Don’t Publish This!
The confusion over first electronic rights and first prints rights seems to be unresolved based upon my research. A common belief is that anything present online has already relinquished its first electronic rights no matter how small the distribution. Merely making something available online constitutes self-publishing.
I find this quite disturbing and view it as deconstructive towards acknowledged legitimate online publishers and the quality of their work.
If every piece of writing available online is considered published through the most cavalier interpretation of self-publishing it degrades the combined quality of the content as well as offers print publishers a source of prejudice.
The thought process goes: Blogging cannot be a respectable method of publishing that contains quality work by educated journalists if a 12-year old from Topeka is writing articles describing how great it was to get up early to see Yu-Gi-Oh! and the awesomeness of such and such a card. And, of course, the 12-year old has an audience larger than Joel Brouwer. So, not only are the writers and the writings of inferior caliber to print, but the popular work is juvenile and simple.
It may be impossible to reconcile quality on a universal perspective until more reputable news organizations place providing content on the internet at a higher priority than print, radio, and television. Okay, that might be an unreal expectation to hold, but the problem is the internet still gets shoved at the kiddy table when issues of quality and marketability are raised.
Along these lines is the struggle with first electronic rights, and the question needs to be asked what constitutes self-publishing online. The standard issue these days is “everything.” I find that laziness in avoiding the issue, as it pertains to legal precedence, reckless and incompetent.
Let’s look to twitter for an example of the high-quality self-publishing that steals interest away from print:
Sloppyfuq listening to music, pushing buttons, waiting always waiting.
hasina_za @Angel_wings *poke*
ybg3thwkid1 I hate hospitals…sick ass ppl. Ughh
And the undeniable winner:
currentutc It is 23:37 UTC now
