New Site on the Block

Sorry that it's more work for you as Admin Joyce.

Amateur cabinetmaker - that's what the name means.

Yes. Unfortunately, paper print publishers do refer to electronic posts of an Author's works to be prior publication. I say unfortunately since I, myself, have also fallen into this trap. Most publishers don't seem to realize that many times the electronic offering is important to the recognition an author needs (in addition to the reader and other author's feedback which helps us develop stronger story plots) in our effort to establish a 'track record'. Those very same paper print publishers create a 'which comes first' scenerio by wanting only authors with proven track records.
Should there be a private site? That is difficult to answer.
Many of us (Authors) have little time to review and critique constructively the works of other Authors. This would be a wonderful thing, however, as the collaberation would likely aid each of us in the improvment of our works.
Time, to which I am certain Joyce may relate, is the problem.
I find my ability to produce story material varies day to day. Sometimes I produce a five word change and other days pound out as much as 10,000 words in two or three new chapters. I never work on one story at a time as my 'writer's block' may inhibit me from producing within one story while suddenly I am going 'full steam ahead' in another.
The time I need to break away from my producing would be a 'burnout' period so I likely could not produce any viable assistance to any story I read.
Sorry. As much as I would like to see a private version, I must vote against it. For the time being anyway. It would be unfair to the other Authors for me to voice my opinion in their works when I many times am uncertain as to the path my own works are taking me. You see, I just go along for the ride. My characters (and sometimes that is exactly what they are) play act for me and I just try to 'get it all down' before they depart the stage. It may be a daunting task.

Thank-you for allowing me this time upon my soapbox, sorry, crate of eggs.

God Bless
T.D. Aldoennetti

P.S. One further thought. Those self-same publishers frequently republish material which has been previously published (they call it reprinting, I believe). Yes, usually it is something they themselves published in the past but I have seen examples of the publishing of material which was previously published by another publisher. I am unaware if there were special or extenuating circumstances in those cases.

...I'm not sure my answer would have any weight. That said:

- a members-only restriction wouldn't bother me as long as membership remained free or costs were nominal. I'm not clear on what that would accomplish, though. It'd still be electronic publication that's accessible to the public.

- I'd object to restricting the site to authors. I'd like to think I at least sometimes have things to say in my comments that are useful to authors; I've read extensively in the SF field, written non-fiction, and edited and published a print newsletter that did in fact pay (albeit in two-figure sums) for submissions.

(FWIW, though times and the Internet have changed since 2000-2001 when this was relevant, I did decide to publish and pay for a round-table e-discussion series that had previously appeared on a website that no longer existed, on the condition that new material in the series would be forthcoming when the online backlog ended. In a couple of other cases, I paid for republished material that came from e-newsletters with very restricted circulation, or had been originally distributed by email.

I did have to stop photocopying and selling reprints of one monograph-length research paper when the author sold a book-length version to a print publisher. I don't know whether the publisher knew about me; I did so at the request/demand of the author, who had copyrighted the work (unlike most of what I published, which was arguably work-for-hire).

But present-day situations like this site, if it stays up, probably aren't very comparable.)