Is it dumb to post my poetry?

Question

I write poetry, and sometimes I want to post it on a forum and share it, or email it to a friend, etc. I am really really nervous about doing something like that, though, as I worked hard on my material and would be devastated if someone stole my work. I was thinking of sending it to myself and not opening the envelope before I did anything, so I can use that as 'copyright proof,' because copyrighting it officially takes so long, but even so, if someone claimed the work as their own somewhere on the net there's a chance I wouldn't find out. Am I being overtly cautious? Would you share your poems online? And would sending my poems to myself first be a reasonable precaution, or is that not good enough? Thanks.

Answer 1

They best thing about any kind of writting in any genre is that when your done it's no longer yours. You have to give it up.

Answer 2

Yes, you are being too cautious. Poetry piracy is not a big problem. Have you tried to sell your poetry yet? It is a very difficult market to break into, and has little financial reward-with the possible exception of a few successful songwriters.
Please do post your poetry on forums. The feedback you get will inspire you and make you a better writer. The chances are very slim that anybody will lift your work. If it ever does happen, consider it a HUGE compliment and write another poem even better.
By all means, if you would feel better about mailing yourself some of your poetry before posting it to the world, then do so. But it probably isn't necessary.

Answer 3

You really don't need to worry about people stealing your work, but you do need to worry about being able to sell "first publishing rights" if you ever do get a publisher interested. By putting your poetry on the Internet, you've essentially wasted the first public appearance of your poem, and most publishers don't want the potential legal hassles of this. If a publisher does take your poem, they make you sign something saying it has never been published in a public forum (which includes book form, magazines, read on the radio, or published on an internet site that's open to anyone).

Emailing poetry to friends is fine, since it's not "public," but you need to make sure your friends don't then put it online!

As for a "poor man's copyright" (mailing your poems to yourself), you can always try, but it's really not worth the effort. If you ever did have to take someone to court, you'd spend just as much in legal expenses trying to prove the envelope was real and unopened as you would trying to prove the poem was yours in the first place. If you really feel you need a copyright, register an official one with the government (assuming you're in the US) - it's about $20.

Answer 4

which is more important to you.
Your Art being recognized or the fame of your being known as an Artist.

I'd be happy to see my work plagiarized it means someone thought it was really good. I would however take steps to see that the plagiarist's name was removed and my proper credit restored.
seriously many forums put a date on when an item is posted
so you don't need to snail mail yourself to get your material dated
and there are programs and people out there that do word and writing analysis that can take sample writings and determine from that who wrote a work that is in dispute.
there was a case a couple years back where a professor 'stole' a students work and an investigator proved the students claim by things like frequency of word choice, patterning and misspellings.

Answer 5

I write poetry etc. too. If you love and are proud of your work and dont want to lose it you should definitely have it copyrighted, no matter how long it takes would you rather take a risk and lose your precious material forever.

I wouldn't post any of my good work over the internet, and I don't believe you are being too cautious at all. After all, you can never be too careful.

-hope I helped you out

Answer 6

First of all, you don't need to register your poetry to claim your rights. This has been ruled by international copyright agreements. Second, I think you should publish and get some readers. What's the point on being a poet without readers? On the third hand (I'm a poet too), I think you are afraid of showing your poems, because you think that criticism will pop your ego's bubble. And great poets can manage disappointment.

Answer 7

You have to prove an actual loss to sue someone for infringing on your copyright. With poetry... that works out to about twenty-five bucks.

Share your poetry. If it gets forwarded to a hundred people in an email, be proud and keep improving your work.

I polish my poems on workshops such as Alsop and Desert Moon Review, then publish them in e-zines. I also share them on my blog. The occasional emails I receive from fans of my work far outweigh any risk of someone copying one brief poem (out of a lifetime of my work.)

When I started posting my poetry years ago... I sucked. Cliche, emo, stale writing... workshops exist to help you overcome these beginner hurdles.

Take a chance. You might have a talent for this.

Answer 8

Well, if you really care about piracy, you can lock your poetry away. If you publicize your poetry, no matter where or how you do it, there will always be someone who steals it from you, but if you publish it, at least you get some money. Also try Fictionpress.com (not for publishing, but just for constructive criticism). A lot of people post their poetry there, and you can get feedback on it.

Answer 9

Try a group called Arcane Artistry. Your works are copyrighted for the site.

Answer 10

Not a wise thing to do. If your material is good it could be stolen. First you need to copyright your material with the Library of Congress.

Answer 11

I write poetry too and keep it to myself because I'm afraid someone will steal it and claim it as theirs. I'm waiting until I have over 100 and then I will try to publish a few.