If you keep the reprint rights to your published articles, you could have an untapped goldmine on your hands. Many regional and trade publications are open to purchasing reprinted articles, often paying anywhere between $50 and several hundred dollars. Tap into that market, and you can make extra cash instantly for work you’ve already done. Here’s how to get started selling your own reprints.
Be careful with contracts. These days, many publishers—particularly for web-based publications—are asking their writers to give up all rights to their articles. If at all possible, fight to grant First North American Serial Rights (FNASR) only. Doing this will allow you to legally resell and repurpose your work, whereas granting all rights means that you’ve given up ownership and have no permission to resell your own work.
Scope out the market. Writer’s Market, an online and print directory of publications that pay for freelance writing, specifically mentions whether its publications allow reprints—try the online version for easy searching. Fellow freelancers can also provide you with valuable leads. “ When searching for markets to publish reprints, regional publications are a great place to start,” says nationally published health and parenting journalist and author Malia Jacobson, who sells reprints frequently. “Some use reprints often, and some only occasionally. But it never hurts to contact the editor and ask.”
Spotlight your available work. It may be worth creating a custom “reprint” section of your website, where reprintable articles are arranged by theme. You can then point editors directly to this section when soliciting for reprint clients. Alternatively, create a PDF that lists titles, word counts, and brief synopses of the articles available for reprint, and ask clients to send requests when they wish to see a particular article. Spotlight articles that aren’t timely in nature: “Most of my best-selling reprints are evergreen articles between 800-1000 words in length,” says Jacobson.
Negotiate. Some publications already have set reprint fees; in other cases, you may be able to request the price you want. Typically, reprints sell for approximately 50 percent of the original article cost, which could mean $1,000 or more depending on article length, though some publications may pay more modest fees. In any case, though, “after working hard to research and write an article, why not increase your profits by reselling the piece again and again?” asks Jacobson. “An excellent reprint can sell many times over with minimal added effort on the content writer’s part.”
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