by Lyn Lomasi, Staff Writer

Do you have non-exclusive writing lying around collecting dust? If you write for a living, chances are that not everything you submit or publish is exclusive to one party. What are you doing with the work that you still hold publishing rights to? If you answered "Nothing" you are not making the most of your work.

Offer reprints.

What are reprints? Put simply, reprints are pieces that have been previously published but can be published again.

If you submit your work to someone non-exclusively, you still have publication rights. Always read the fine print everywhere that you publish your work to be sure who has the rights. Just because you still hold the copyright, does not always mean you still hold publication rights.

Once you have determined that you do hold publication rights, there are several ways you can offer reprints.

Here are some of my favorites:

  • Get them published with online venues that accept non-exclusive content. Ideally, editing and a title change should be done to customize the content to each venue.
  • Have a reprints page on your website.
  • Republish them on your own website to draw traffic to your services and/or advertisements.
  • Get them published in print publications that accept non-exclusive work. This may require some editing to fit the venue.

Lyn is a freelance web journalist, the Community Advocate at Yahoo! Contributor Network, and a Y! Shine Parenting Guru. She's also the founder of Write W.A.V.E. Media, parent company to LifeSuccessfully.com and several others. She enjoys publishing freelance writers and supports advocacy through journalism. She has been published all over the web with major media companies, as well as smaller businesses and organizations. Contact Lyn for guidance in the world of freelance writing.

Lyn on Twitter: @LynLomasi

 



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