What constitutes "previously published"? Elizabeth asked: Would a short story be acceptable as a previously published or new work if it was on, for example, a Livejournal post that was... Totally open to everyone Friendslocked Locked to a small, select filter? A story presented within a journal (blog) post or personal web page open to the public is not only published but self-published and therefore ineligible for inclusion as a fiction piece in Evolutions. The piece could, however, be submitted as a self-publish link to be reviewed for inclusion in our database of notable self-publish work. A story presented to a private group that cannot be accessed by search engines or web crawler bots is not published and can be submitted as a new fiction submission. This is a paradigm common to critique groups that hide behind login firewalls and perfectly valid for proofreading and fine tuning of a story before submission. A story purchased and presented by an online webzine or print magazine and whose rights have reverted to the author may be submitted as a previously published work.