Great Escape Publishing

Posted October 5th, 2007 by Lori Allen & filed under Travel Writing.

Today:
*** Resend or Repackage? How to Get Paid Twice for One Article
*** Struggling With Your Next Article?
*** Practical Writing Prompt of the Week: Three New Twists on a Travel Lead
*** Reader Feedback: All-Expenses-Paid Three-Day Trip

Dear Reader,

Last week I got an email from Bobbie H., a recent travel-writing workshop attendee who has successfully published her stories in local and special-interest magazines. She wrote an article that was published in one magazine and now wants to send it to another. She writes…

“I have found a magazine that deals with the Turks and Caicos (Times of the Islands magazine) and they say they take previously published articles. I was getting ready to send my story, “The Salty Side of the Grand Turk Lighthouse,” to them but then I read the fine print in Lighthouse Digest. They say ‘…all materials are copyrighted and cannot be used or borrowed without written permission from the publisher.’”

Because the Times of the Islands magazine is aware that it has already been published, can I send it to them? Must I get in touch with Lighthouse Digest and get a release? I could change a word here and there but really not much. Don’t really know how much is needed to change to make it different enough. Should I take a chance since these are at opposite ends of the earth? Lighthouse Digest is published in Duluth, MN.”

This is a good question — and one we get often — so I asked professional travel writer, Jennifer Stevens, to give us a run down on how this kind of thing works. Here’s her response…

“The quote about copyrighted material that Bobbie pulled from the publication itself is there to deter readers from, say, taking an article and posting it on a website someplace without attribution. But Bobbie isn’t a regular reader. She’s the author of a piece that appeared in that publication.

“So she needs to check the writer’s guidelines at Lighthouse Digest. If the writer’s guidelines don’t state what kind of rights the publication buys — and if the editor didn’t make that clear either in the contract she signed (if she signed one) or in his correspondence with Bobbie — then she needs simply to send him an email and ask. She can explain the situation and say that the second publication to which she’d like to submit the piece is in a non-competing market.

“Now, it may be that Lighthouse Digest buys All Rights. And that would mean that Bobbie couldn’t sell her article again without first changing a considerable amount of it — at least 60% and probably more like 80%.

“If I were Bobbie, I’d go to the archives at http://www.thetravelwriterslife.com and look for articles on selling rights, like this one.

“That will give her a firm grasp of what the different kinds of rights are. Sometimes rights are negotiable — though it’s wise to do any negotiating before your article goes to print.

“To summarize: If it turns out that Bobbie has not relinquished all rights to her piece, then she’s likely to be able to sell it again. I’d guess that Lighthouse Digest purchases First North American Serial Rights. And in that case, Bobbie could certainly resell her piece as-is within the Caribbean, offering Second Serial (Reprint) Rights.

“For the sake of illustration, though, let’s assume that Bobbie DID sell All Rights to her original piece — what then?

“In that case, my advice to Bobbie would be: Learn something about the readership of Times of the Islands in the Turks and Caicos (see if there’s a media kit on the publication’s website — that will include demographic information and such) — and start massaging the piece to better fit that particular reader. Slap a new lead on it. Reorder the information. Pull something from your original piece and put it in a sidebar for this one. Pretty soon, it’s going to look different enough to sell as a new article.

“I recently wrote an article with specifics about how to do this. It’s titled, “Three Ways to Repackage (and Resell) an Article.”

“Hope that helps,
— Jen”

Editor’s Note: You can read Bobbie’s article in this month’s Lighthouse Digest, here: http://tinyurl.com/24to33)

Before you go check it out, though, scroll down to today’s writing prompt to find Three Effective Twists on the Travel Lead.

Take care,

— Lori
Lori Allen
Director, Great Escape Publishing

[Editor’s Note: Learn more about opportunities to profit from your travels (and even from your own home) in our free online newsletter The Right Way to Travel.]

PRACTICAL WRITING PROMPT OF THE WEEK:
We’ve talked in this e-letter before about taking a story and writing it for different audiences. For example, you could write an article about a trip to a white sand beach in Thailand for a magazine devoted to retirees and then turn around and write another article about the same beach for a publication geared toward adventure travelers.

This week, though, let’s think of repackaging and reselling in a different way and refer back to Jennifer Steven’s article, titled: “Unexpected Attention-Grabbers: Three Effective Twists on the Travel Lead.”

Take some time this weekend to re-read this article and rework one of your existing pieces following Jen’s advice. Or, if you don’t yet have an article you can re-work, try using her lead suggestions to write one this weekend about your hometown or your favorite vacation destination.

Reader, Nancy P., did — and she says it made a world of difference. She writes, “I have been published now by magazines, Internet and newspapers but it would not have happened if it wasn’t for 2 things. The first is signing up for the Ultimate Travel Writers program and the second was to have all my work checked by the Accelerated Training Services. It’s funny, when you get the first inkling that you would like to write, you just don’t know where to start. What I discovered is first you need to put pen to paper, or pull a chair up to your computer and start punching away on keys. Although I did that, it wasn’t until I started the program that I noticed my writing was actually starting to sound pretty good. Thanks!”

READER FEEDBACK: All-Expenses-Paid Three-Day Trip

“Dear Lori, some time ago [in the ITWPA newsletter], Stan gave us a tip about an upcoming travel media familiarization trip to St. Augustine, Florida. I applied to go on the trip and completed the required questionnaire. When they made their selection I was one of those selected. It’s an all-expenses-paid three-day trip. Now, my next goal is to maximize the number of articles I write on the sights and experiences of St. Augustine. Thanks again for the tip.”
— Reynold D.