![fantasy-2530043_640.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmTWBFzCuEnLXzemoYeYzMtxejMFHduEjsPWy7k4NTLZDA/fantasy-2530043_640.jpg)

(Image courtesy of pixabay, and is free for commercial use. Don't be that little girl about to be eaten by a demon!)

It occurred to me one day that, while Steemit is great, I can't remove what I put into the blockchain. That's fine if it's just a post about what I've been doing, a short story here and there, or even an essay I can't stop myself from writing. The problem comes in when I decide there's some tiny part of a story that I want to publish or expand on. Yes, it's possible to make a few hundred dollars here and there with those short stories, BUT, try to publish them with the demon-god of book selling and you're going to find yourself in trouble. 

Why? Well, let's say you want to put your work into a specific program, one where readers pay a certain amount to revel in the pool of books they've just opened themselves up to? To put your book into that program with the demon-god of book selling, your work CANNOT appear anywhere else. Around 10 percent of it can, but the rest? That's a big ole NOPE. 

But, I can just delete it, you might tell yourself. Sure, you can delete it, but it's still in the blockchain, and the demon-god? It's an angry god, full of hate for those that make it a profit, because they might be CHEATING. They might try to make a profit from their goods that the demon-god won't get to snatch away. 

There are alternatives to the demon-god, the lesser known Google-eyed god of fluffy bunnies, or even the gnarled hands of the old-fashioned book store that now wrings its roots as it sort of totters off to try to remember what it was doing with this e-book, but there is one demon-god, and it is the decider. Of everything. 

So, if you think you might ever consider publishing with that demon-god, rather than have all of your work up on Steemit, where it's only going to make money for a certain amount of time, I'd suggest you leave that little gem on your harddrive. Eventually the demon-god WILL find your post in the blockchain, and they may just totally destroy your account without a question asked or chance given to prove you aren't a fraud-committing, click-farming fool bent on making $6 off of them. You will be destroyed for your impertinence, and that is the way of the demon-god. Be warned. 

PS: I could also be totally wrong, but after some thinking, reading, and trying to figure out what actually happens when you delete a post, this is the conclusion I came to.  And no, I'm not naming the demon-god, you know that old saying about speak of the devil as well as I do. You know who it is, if you've ever considered publishing a book by yourself, anyway.