How to Get Your Story or Poem Unpublished

Last Updated on January 12, 2019 by Nathaniel Tower

An acceptance is pretty much the best thing a writer can get, right? After all, that’s why we take the time to send out our work. There’s nothing more exciting than opening an email from an editor or publisher and reading the words, “we loved your submission and would like to publish it.” It’s the ultimate achievement–well, that and having millions of adoring fans who read and celebrate every word you write.

As time passes though, you may have second thoughts about having a particular story or poem published. I know what you’re thinking here. You have enough stuff sitting around in the “Not Published” folder on your computer. Why would you want to put stuff that’s been published back into that folder? Well, there are a number of reasons why you might have some regret about a publication. Here are a few common examples:

It might affect your career or hurt your job prospects

When you’re applying for a new job, your prospective employer is going to Google you. If the first thing that comes up is your story called “My Boss is a Fucking D-Bag and I Hate Going to Work,” then you probably aren’t going to get that job. Wouldn’t it be great if you could get that story unpublished?

It might be embarrassing

Maybe you’ve grown as a writer and are no longer proud of the soft-core porn stories you used to get published in Sexy Fiction Quarterly. The best way to make sure no one reads these stories is never to send them out to begin with. But if they’ve already been published, then eventually they are going to catch up to you.

It might affect a relationship

Remember that story you wrote that was loosely based on something bad your brother did and you went overboard in your “creative nonfiction” piece where you characterized him as the worst person to ever live? When he finds that story, he might be a bit upset. It’s fine to write from personal experience, but you need to be careful when you’re writing about real people. As managing editor of Bartleby Snopes, I received several requests to remove a story because it contained something that was putting a strain on real relationships.

These are just a few of the many reasons why you might wish a story or poem of yours had never been published. Luckily, you can sometimes do something about it. But before we discuss that, let’s establish when it’s NOT acceptable to try to get a publication removed:

You want to publish it somewhere else instead

Once a story or poem is accepted and published, you’ve given up first rights. That means no one else can have first rights to that story or poem ever again. This is true even if the original publication goes offline for good. If you’ve had your story published somewhere, it’s almost never appropriate to ask them to take it down so you can have it published in a different venue. You can’t ask Shitty Fiction Monthly to unpublish your work because you’ve suddenly decided you want it published in Glimmer Train instead.

Like everything else, there can be exceptions to this rule. For example, a story I published in Bartleby Snopes was going to be included in a collection of short stories being published by Penguin Books. Penguin did not want the story to be available for free online, so the author reached out to me and politely asked if I could remove it. This was not an underhanded attempt to sell the story as brand new to Penguin. In fact, the book credited Bartleby Snopes as the original publisher of the story. This was a perfectly acceptable time to ask for a piece to be unpublished.

So how do you go about having your work unpublished?

There’s really only one way to make this happen: you need to reach out to the publication and ask them to remove it. This is usually pretty simple. All it requires you to do is write an email explaining the situation. I would recommend something like this:

Dear Editor (use a real name if possible):

A story of mine titled “STORY TITLE” was published by your magazine on “INSERT DATE.” I’m grateful that you published my work. However, I am requesting that you remove this piece from your archives because “INSERT REASON (keep it short but descriptive enough to justify your request).”

I appreciate your understanding and apologize for this inconvenience. Please let me know if there is anything else you need from me to complete this request.

Thank you,

YOUR NAME

That’s pretty simple, right? And at least 9 out of 10 editors are going to respond favorably to this type of request.

You don’t always have to have the story removed

Alternatively, you can also ask the publication to change your byline on that particular story. Maybe you don’t want the piece removed from existence. Instead of asking the editors to delete it from the website, politely request that they change the author’s name to whatever nom de plume tickles your fancy. Most editors are pretty reasonable people and will do this, especially if you ask politely. Several authors requested I do this at Bartleby Snopes, and I always acquiesced. I also requested it from a few publications myself, most notably for some stories I had written about things that happened in the classroom while I was a teacher. Although I didn’t use any specific student names, I still didn’t want these stories associated with my name for pretty obvious reasons. 

You can’t always get your work removed

Unfortunately, sometimes it’s impossible to have your work unpublished. If your story or poem was published in a print or PDF issue, then it’s pretty permanent. Even if you reach out and request that future versions be produced without your story, the work is already out there in the world and can never be removed for good. Besides, it’s way too much of a hassle to make these changes to non-web formats. Removing a story from a website typically takes a few minutes. Removing one from a PDF and then redistributing that PDF can take hours. You aren’t here to inconvenience the publication. Asking them to remove it would also likely be a violation of the publication agreement you signed back when your story was accepted.  

There are other times when it’s unlikely that you can have your work unpublished. In today’s literary landscape of publications opening and closing quickly, it’s not uncommon for a venue to cease publishing but leave the website up indefinitely. If they aren’t actively managing the website, they aren’t going to take the time to remove your story–and they might not even get your request. Still, it’s worth reaching out and asking if they can take it down. Just don’t expect a venue that hasn’t published since 2011 to rush and remove your story from their site.

Remember, the web is kind of permanent

It’s also important to keep in mind the archival nature of the internet. Everything that goes up on the web should be viewed as permanent. While it’s always possible to delete something, projects like archive.org can permanently preserve a web page long after it’s deleted from a server. In other words, you should never send out your work unless you’re sure you want it published. If you think you might regret it later, then don’t send it at all.

Have you ever wished a story or poem of yours could be unpublished? Have you ever gotten your story successfully removed? Share your experience in the comments.