Today, I sold a feature travel article to a regional magazine. I'm thrilled, but of course, now I want to do more. The magazine is buying first rights for their region, so I can sell this story to other magazines in other regions. My question is regarding how to approach those other magazines. Do I send them the query letter and say that I am selling the first print rights for their region (let's say 'Austin' or 'Rhode Island', for example). Are editors put off by writers trying to sell an as yet unwritten story to multiple markets (this seems like a delicate issue)? Would it be better to wait until the article is published and sell it as a reprint (which I would guess earns less money)? If I somehow sell the article to another regional market, do I have to tell the first market about it? I just want to get the appropriate mileage out of this article without committing any faux pas or causing bad blood with editors, especially the one who is already buying my article.
Ooh, this is tough, and I'm really not sure what the answer is because I don't do any travel writing, and I also am too lazy to resell my reprints. (Which is dumb, I know, but these days, I just don't have the energy.)
I really don't have any insider tips, so I wanted to throw this out to readers because I'm certain that someone out there will give you good advice.
Geez, I'm sorry that I don't have more insight! But this is what I love about this blog...I learn things here too!
So readers, what say you?
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1 comment:
There's a great piece on reselling pieces in the May issue of The Writer by Lis King (a member of my critique group). Lis makes a fine living reselling pieces and the article is really informative. She's resold one piece over twenty times! Wish I could do that.
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