Writers, who owns your work? by Leanne Dyck

A friend asked me if she owned the short story she had contributed to an anthology or if it was now owned by the publisher? She hadn't been paid for her submission nor had she signed a contract?

I replied...

Authors always retain ownership of their work. They only lose this ownership temporarily when they sign a contract allowing the publisher to publish their work in exchange for payment.

As she did not sign a contract, she did not lose ownership of her story--even temporarily.