Finding More Than One Outlet for Stories

Don’t put previously published work in a drawer or forget about it—not when many articles can be sold again and again. NATJA members have found that recycling work is a great way to earn extra dollars. Best of all, since all the research has already been done, recycling takes little effort and pays off in a big way.

Georgia Hesse says, “It’s wise to check each magazine’s policy before submitting. In the past, I was always successful with newspapers when my submission read ‘Exclusive to you in your circulation area.’” Hesse recycles each feature several times and frequently has to change the wording due to the geography. “If you sell a story about Carmel to a San Francisco paper, you can presume knowledge of where Carmel is and your description of getting there would be far different from that if the audience is in Florida or Montana.” She believes that conditions are changing so fast now that editors are confused about what they can and cannot require. Her advice is to “Make sure you get at least five different stories from every trip you take, write each independently before you start recycling, and be very honest. The publication community, especially for travel articles, is very small and reputations spread quickly.”

Don Philpott has always recycled features and articles. He says, “It’s often easy to tweak features that have appeared in the U.S. for a British audience. When features are seasonal they can be updated annually. The secret is in rewriting the introduction to appeal to the publication’s specific audience. It obviously makes sense not to send the same piece to newspapers or magazines that share the same circulation areas.”

Daniel Lee says, “Sometimes an original article can be reformatted and sold to different markets. For example, after a trip along the East Coast, I wrote a newspaper feature about kids enjoying that area. Resulting from that same trip, another newspaper feature about lighthouses was published and, similarly, features I had written originally in kids’ format ended up in an op-ed piece.” Currently Lee is repurposing an article to appeal to adults, which was previously written for a kids’ magazine.

King Montgomery waits several years after initial publication of an article before querying, having been told by editors that, “After two or three years no one remembers the article anyway. If magazines are very disparate in target audience, I might be more technical in a fly fishing magazine article in the Bahamas, but would stress the travel aspect more in a travel magazine, but basically use the same article. I’m successful most of the time and recycle each article two to three times.” Montgomery’s advice is to develop a relationship with editors and be able to adapt your article to their needs. Some magazines, however, never take recycled material.

“Occasionally I rework articles and recycle them,” says Jim Loomis. “However, the only things I recycle verbatim are places that have run in a newspaper or magazine, which I then send to travel websites. I do this free of charge to gain more publicity for those subjects I think are worthy.”

On the other hand, Jim Bruner always offers publishers first rights only. “Occasionally,” he says, “they ask that I not give the article to another publication until a certain date (six months or so), or they may ask me not to submit the article to certain other publications. I always clarify things up front so there won’t be any problems later.”

Richard Every usually recycles articles one time although he says he may turn the article into round-up theme pieces later. “I target publications that have run my material before or those that I know are still buying travel.”

“It’s not difficult to recycle articles when I think ‘niche markets,’” notes Susan Eberman. “Some of my articles have been recycled more than 10 times over several years, while others have only been published twice.” Eberman customizes each article to the specific publication. “This involves a different emphasis on each topic covered in the article so some of the wording must be changed, along with any updates. Few editors asked if the article has been published before, but when asked, I answer honestly. Part of my success comes from reading hundreds of publications that I either purchase or read online so that I can customize the article for the specific publication.

Nancy Wigston searches for publications that have a no-rights-grabbing contract so that she can then “offer the same article to another outlet. Normally I don’t make changes after six months to a year has elapsed, especially if the topic is the same and the publication venue is widely different. Another useful tactic is to use part of an original article in a completely new place—a round-up piece that incorporates earlier trips and quotes. Normally I recycle each article two to three times.” If you’re just getting into recycling, Wigston advises, “Be aware of what contracts you’ve signed and the rights you’ve retained. Make certain the article is yours to use and re-use, as long as the markets are not geographically competitive.”

Like other members, Jon Siskin and Charles Jacobs recycle their work, being careful to check whether the publications’ circulation zones don’t clash. Jacobs also sends out multiple manuscripts simultaneously. “If the story originally appeared in a national publication, I inform recipients of this fact.” Jacobs feels his “success depends on the piece and whether there will be interest from readers of a certain publication. On the average, I recycle to newspapers six to 10 times for each article, occasionally making appropriate changes, but the majority of times I don’t have to change the wording. Editors of magazines are advised the article has run before, but not on simultaneous submissions to non-competitive newspapers.”

Victor Block says he “watches for special sections/issues related to the destination or theme of a story.” If seasonal, he tries “to recycle features in time for the following appropriate season.” He queries magazines, but most often, simply submits to newspapers. “I have several regular outlets in different geographic areas where I can occasionally recycle articles. This depends on the opportunities that I come across. Often I have to change the lead, sometimes other copy, and usually have to reduce the number of words. I feel that once I’ve researched and written a story, I’ve done 95 percent of the work and then it’s easy to update/act-check, and if necessary, cut or refocus a story.”

Describing herself as a “committed market junkie,” Sheila O’Connor subscribes to many online market newsletters in the US and UK. “I read the publications for market outlets and after I’ve marked up what I think would work where, I submit them usually by querying first. I tend to stick to magazines. I try to set aside a ‘marketing’ day once a week to recycle features/articles. I sell one-time rights and the overseas publications don’t seem to mind that it has sold in another foreign county as long as it is not on the Internet. That way they get first rights in their own country. My top recycled article has sold 23 times and continues to be popular. It’s about spending a night in Canada’s Ice Hotel.” O’Connor says she rarely changes the wording but does update relevant information.

Arline Zatz is the award-winning author of Best Hikes With Children in New Jersey (The Mountaineers); 30 Bicycle Tours in New Jersey (Backcountry); Horsing Around in New Jersey (Rutgers University Press), among others. Her features and photographs appear nationally in newspapers and magazines.