First Publication Rights

First Publication rights is something few new authors seem to know about.  So I'll try my best to explain it.  

First publication rights is the right the author has to sell his work to any person of interest for the express purpose of publication.

Major publication houses such as Random House, Macmillan, Penguin, etc. pay for the right to be able to first publish the author’s work.  As in first publication rights.

Since that is what they pay for then by making your work available where it can be viewed by the public such as posting it on your blog, going through a small press or even a vanity press then you have effectively used up your first publication rights. 

This format continues into second, third, fourth and so on print runs.  When a publisher wants to print a second run of 10,000 copies they will have to pay you for the right to do so unless otherwise stipulated in your contract.  

Now going through a small press isn't a bad thing but most contracts with major publication houses also include royalty rates and advances. See the relevant link for more detail on those.  

Major publishing houses have top of the line facilities such as editing, copy editing, proof reading, spell checking, fact checking, the list goes on but the point is that they are all there to make your book as perfect as it can possibly be for a widespread audience.  The more people that buy your book, the more money is generated and the happier everyone will be.

So before you start uploading your manuscript to your blog make sure you in no way ever want to see a cent from that work.

On a last note.  Nothing is ever truly set in stone.  Some will consider publishing something that has been made available elsewhere but only if there is profit to be made in doing so.  In other words your work would have to be damn good.