Recycle and Repurpose
By Ruth O’Neil
Have you ever done a ton of research for an article? Have you ever wished you could do more with that research? Research is time-consuming, and if you’re like me, you find other interesting topics to check out that lead down those dreaded rabbit holes. If you’re wise, you will use that research to the fullest and turn out more than one article, story, or listicle to get the most money for your work. Don’t be afraid to recycle and repurpose to fit the needs of multiple publications.
1. Two Birds/One Stone
When doing research for a non-fiction article, use the knowledge you have gleaned to write a fiction article. The research on the topic is already done; you will just need to research markets a little bit if you can’t think of one off the top of your head and use your imagination for the fiction. Same topic, two pieces, completely different markets, two sales (at least).
2. Reprints/One Time Rights
Reselling your stories is the most obvious way to get mileage out of your work. However, this can be somewhat limiting. You can only sell the same exact piece to so many places so many times. You will more than likely get less money for reprints, but it’s money that you wouldn’t get at all without reselling your article. You just got paid twice for one writing session! Something important to keep in mind here is that if you sold first rights to a publication, you must wait until they have published before you sell the reprints. You can sell one-time rights to several publications at the same time, which just gives them permission to print it once, not necessarily first.
3. Change Your Audience
Recycle and repurpose by changing up your audience. Maybe you wrote an article on healthy food for adults. Take that same information, tweak it, maybe shorten a bit, and you now have an article suitable for the children’s market. You can make this a fictional story as well. Create a character who is trying to lose weight or drop a few pounds before the high school reunion. Write her story using some of the information you found while researching healthy foods and incorporate it into the story. Change a few things around, maybe change the point of view to an older (or younger) character, and you have a submission for a different age market.
4. Watch for Changes in Editors
You’ve poured blood, sweat, and possibly a few tears into researching and writing an article, and you know it’s good. The only problem is that it was rejected by the editor of the publication for which you specifically wrote it. You can certainly send it out to other publications but keep the original one in mind. If there is a change in editor somewhere down the road, don’t be afraid to resend that same article or story. I’ve done this before, and I recently did it again, which resulted in an additional sale. You may even find that the new editor really likes your work and asks you for more pieces.
5. Other Countries
Did you know that you can sell first rights more than once? You can, if you sell your article to publications in different countries. For example, I can sell first rights to an article by selling to a company based in North America (including the US and Canada). Then I can turn around and sell first rights to a publication based in Europe.
6. Syndicates
Syndicates may not be something that many writers think of right away, if at all, when it comes to getting the most out of their articles. Syndicates either pay you a flat fee for your articles that they can resell as reprints to a wide variety of media or split the profits with you for each article. Syndicates will also get your name into publications you never thought about. If the editor likes it, they might contact you directly for more. When it comes to syndicates, however, you do need to be careful to use a reputable one. Just like everything else, there are dishonest companies that make a lot of promises. Check the Writer’s Market for legitimate syndication information.
7. Evergreen Articles
Get more out of your writing by contributing evergreen pieces. Evergreen pieces are ones that are not seasonal, and the information will not go “out of style.” Parenting, pet ownership, how to, home, and relationship articles are all types of evergreen articles. You still want to provide the reader with new and relevant content, but evergreen articles will be saleable for possibly years to come.
8. Listicles
Don’t underestimate the power of a listicle. Many publications, especially online ones, like listicles. A listicle is simply a list of information. Some listicles have a bit more writing than just a list to make them interesting. In today’s world, people have short attention spans. They want to run through an article quickly and take out only the information they want. They don’t want to have to read through pages of nonsense to get to it. Take that research you did on healthy foods and repurpose it into a scannable list.
Look through your collection of articles and see how many of them you can recycle and repurpose and apply some of these tips. If you do, there is the potential to make more money and grow your bank account. Make sure you mark what articles/stories you’ve sent where and what rights you sold. You want to keep in the good graces of editors who purchase your work.
Ruth O’Neil is a freelance writer who has published hundreds of articles in dozens of magazines as well as four novels and several devotionals. She homeschooled her children for 20 years and is now teaching English and writing classes at a homeschool co-op. In her spare time, she enjoys sewing quilts, reading all the books she can get her hands on, canning a variety of foods, and especially spending time with her family. Ruth and her husband have been married for more than 30 years. They have three married children, one grandson, and another grandbaby on the way.