any writers or poets out there?

I have a technical question. I'm starting to look into submitting my poems to professional publications.
A lot of publications say "no previously published work". Do you think this includes a high school or college literary magazine?

The other question is, how would they know anways? These were tiny magazines only open to, and distributed, at my schools. There were no copyrights, and no one was getting paid, or paying for the magazines.

So should I just submit the poems anyways?

Please, please be sure to copyright your work before submitting it to ANYONE for publication. A lot of publications will keep the rights to any material they publish, and if you are not copyrighted then you can lose the rights to your own words.

If you have a piece that has been published in a college literary publication, then that IS considered published. (I was the editor of Soundings East, my alma mater's literary magazine.) This can be confirmed by a simple library search by the potential publisher, as college publications are distributed to library archives, including the Library of Congress.

A high school publication, on the other hand, may not be considered to be a professional publication, unlike college publications. I would also suggest that you make a call to any potential publisher and find out more information on this question, as each potential publisher may also have different guidelines.

Also, you may want to invest in a book like: How to Publish your Poetry, http://www.squareonepublishers.com/t...wtopoetry.html. A short blurb: Written for both the novice poet and the long-time writer who wishes to enjoy greater success in the world of publishing, How to Publish Your Poetry is a complete guide to breaking into the world of print poetry.

I agree with gingers mom.

Check out the copyright laws of your country.
I read recently in the uk if work is submitted to your school as say course work or in a school book or something of that kind then that work becomes the property of the school.
so if that is the case they would have the copyright?I would check it out before you send anything away.
An easy way to 'copyright' your work is to take your work to a post office get them to date stamp it and post it to yourself and leave it unopened.
That way you can publish and still prove you have the copyright

That way if there's any dispute you have those to show to a court.

Originally Posted by GingersMom

Please, please be sure to copyright your work before submitting it to ANYONE for publication. A lot of publications will keep the rights to any material they publish, and if you are not copyrighted then you can lose the rights to your own words.

If you have a piece that has been published in a college literary publication, then that IS considered published. (I was the editor of Soundings East, my alma mater's literary magazine.) This can be confirmed by a simple library search by the potential publisher, as college publications are distributed to

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I'm trying not to hijack the thread, really! But I do have a question. I was published in my colleges arts and sciences research journal without having my article copyrighted. Since I didn't copyright it, basically I will never be able to re-publish it in another publication? Just curious. Also, could I still copyright it?