RECYCLING TIPS
from Barbara Florio Graham, author of Five Fast Steps to BETTER Writing
You can't sell the same piece again - exactly as written - unless you find a market willing to purchase second rights, and almost nobody does that unless they pay a ridiculously low amount. The only exceptions are magazines that are primarily high-end markets culling the best, such as Reader's Digest and Utne Reader.
So don't try to resell the same article. When you've already sold First Rights and then sell Second Rights, you have almost nothing left. And today when so much of this stuff ends up on the web (whether we like it or not), you're losing control of that article.
Instead, you should rework the piece sufficiently to sell a "new" article, based on the same research, but taking a different angle. Often we collect sufficient quotes and small details when we're researching to use in more than one article. You have likely selected the best of these for the article you wrote, but can dredge up others for this market.
The advantage to doing this is that you don't need to query. Just rewrite the piece, which shouldn't take very long, and submit it. You could mention in your covering note that you have written about this topic before, for such publications as XXX and YYY.
This is much easier than going through the query process, which you'd have to do if you hadn't already done the research and were starting from scratch, as you wouldn't want to waste your time doing interviews, etc. unless you had a definite assignment.
Dana Cassell writes about "Maximizing Your Inventory," describing how she uses research she's accumulated in preparing an article to spin off into new pieces. She points out various methods, including selling one-time rights to lower-paying markets, compiling different research into "round-up" pieces, or into an e-book or CD.
Read Dana's entire article at: http://www.writers-editors.com/Writers/Free_Tips/Marketing/marketing.htm.
HANDOUTS from CAA WORKSHOP:
NOTE: These handouts are for the exclusive use of participants in the 2007 CAA Conference workshop by Barbara Florio Graham, called "Write It! Sell It! Sell It Again!" Any other use is strictly forbidden. These materials are protected by copyright and must NOT be forwarded or copies for any purpose except the personal use of the workshop participants. They will remain on this site for only five days, after which they will be removed and made available for sale in booklet form.
Marketing Your Writing
Easiest and Hardest Short
Articles to Sell
Ways to Recycle
Market Analysis and Marketing
Records
Sidebars
Marketing Resources
TIPS about
selecting appropriate publications to query