I may have to crosspost this in the copyright forum, but I was wondering if I were to publish a book and mention my username here at Renderosity, suggesting people to drop by and take a look, what sort of legalities would be involved? I know that many publishers do not like the idea of publishing content that has been online, no matter what the site's terms and conditions are. All the content for the book will be new. Also, can anyone suggest some publishers to start with for poetry and short stories? My current plan is to go to the bookstore and write down all the publishers in the poetry section.

I would go to the library and look at the reference materials there. There are market specific books for short stories, poems, etc. You can sit down and take notes and not be standing in an aisle, and the librarians will help you find the information you need. First books are very hard to sell; and poetry even harder. I would, if I were you, try to get my poetry and short stories published in magazines before trying to sell a book. Self-publishing has been the start of many a poet's career, and has an honorable tradition--but it's harder to do all the marketing yourself. I would never put on the web what I want to see in print. It is just too easy to have your work stolen, and some publishers do consider it "published." If you have some things here that aren't in the book, then it would be perfectly fine to share that with the public, but it would be better and more professional to have your own website where you can market your book in case the publisher doesn't do the job for you. My two cents. Not worth much since I'm unpublished and likely to stay so. Do share with us your success story. :)

My grandmother published quite a few books of poems, and I'm somewhat familiar with the process. Unfortunately she passed away years ago and is only here in spirit to help me. I was just wondering if there was any problem with referring readers of a book to Renderosity.

I wish you your grandmother's success. It's always nice to have heredity going for you. There's no problem referring readers here....though you need to provide a direct link to your gallery or they will need to get a logon (and some people resist that kind of thing). I guess you don't need luck, so I'll just say I'm looking forward to your posting your link to where to purchase your books.

well, I have to write the book yet, lol