By Tiffany Jansen
Have you seen the Seinfeld episode where George accompanies his girlfriend to a funeral?
It?s post-wake and everyone?s at her parent?s place noshing on hors d?oeuvres and sipping punch. George finds himself in front of the potato chips, so he takes one, sinks it in the dip, takes a bite, and dips the chip again; much to the annoyance of his distraught girlfriend?s brother.
A knock-down, drag-out fight ensues before the very upset girlfriend kicks George out.
I?m not ashamed to admit that I?m a double-dipper.
And why not? It?s the only way to really enjoy that French onion dip and get the most mileage out of your chip.
Freelancers should be double-dipping too. Not their chips (unless they?re into that sort of thing), but their writing.
Double-dipping is a golden opportunity not enough freelance writers take advantage of.
So how does double-dipping work in the freelance writing world? Here are five easy ways.
1. Sell reprints.
It?s been published once, why can?t it be published again?
How to do it: The first thing you want to do is make a list of publications that cover the topic of your article. Then, check out their website and writer guidelines to see if they accept reprints. If you?re not sure, ask. Send the editor a friendly email telling them about your article and why you think their readers would be interested. Ask if they?d like to purchase it as a reprint.
Keep in mind: It?ll pay a fraction of what they pay for original works and they may want you to tweak it a bit to fit their market. But it sure beats having to come up with a new idea, pitch it, research and talk to sources, and write a new piece.
2. Repurpose old content to fit new markets.
Not all publications accept reprints…but that doesn?t mean you can?t reuse old content.
How to do it: First, find a market that covers your topic. Go back to your research notes and interview transcripts, and write a pitch that covers a different angle of the story with publication #2?s audience in mind. If you quoted someone in the first article, paraphrase in the new one. Where you paraphrased, use quotes. Include information that didn?t make it into the original article.
Keep in mind: You may want to consider doing some additional research in case things have changed, or find one or two additional sources. But the work load is going to be a lot less than what it was the first go-around. Only this time you stand to earn the same amount of money? maybe even more!
3. Send pitches in batches.
When you come up with a brilliant idea, don?t save it for just one publication ? share the love! There are tons of publications with audiences that would love to know more about the topic you?re pitching. It?s just a matter of re-framing each pitch to fit a variety of publications.
How to do it: Let?s say you?ve got a great story idea about traveling with babies. Of course parenting magazines would be interested, but so would travel publications, women?s glossies, maybe even custom publications for baby product companies. As you?re doing your initial research and collecting sources, think about what these various audiences would want to know and how/why they could use this information. Tweak each pitch to suit each market.
Keep in mind: Unlike the tactics above, here you?ll be writing completely different queries and completely different articles for each publication. While parents would want this information to help them in their travels, a pediatrician might want this information to help her advise parents who wish to travel with their little ?uns. A women?s magazine might want to provide tips on how to have a smooth flight for travelers finding themselves on a plane with a baby. The difference is, you do the research once and get multiple articles out of it.
4. Send simultaneous queries.
The idea here is to send the same query for the same idea to editors at multiple publications. When you send out a query, you could wait months — or even a year — only to have the editor respond with a resounding ?no.? Sometimes editors take a really long time to respond to queries…if they reply at all. Rather than wait around for them to get back to you and risk having your idea become stale or already-been-done, cast your net wide and find that article a home ASAP.
How to do it: This one?s easy — find a bunch of publications that fit your topic, write one query, and send it out to editors at all of those publications.
Keep in mind: You may have more than one publication show interest in the article. However, you cannot sell the same article to more than one publication. In this case, it?s a first come, first served thing. But don?t let those other publications go home empty-handed. Offer them the same story, but from a different angle. Or pitch them a few similar ideas instead.
5. Once you?ve got ?em, keep ?em.
The thing about queries is they can get a ?yes? or a ?no? or be met with silence. There?s not much you can do about the third instance, but you can turn a ?no? into a ?yes.?
How to do it: An editor might turn you down for a number of reasons: the timing?s off, someone else has already covered it, they?re not interested in the topic, they?re having a bad day? But just because they say ?no? to one idea doesn?t mean they?ll say ?no? to another. If they?ve emailed you back, you?ve got their ear. So take advantage by replying with a ?Thank you for getting back to me. I completely understand. Perhaps [insert new idea here] would be a better fit??
Keep in mind: That you suck as a writer or the editor hates your guts is rarely if ever a reason for a rejection. Odds are the rejection is based on factors you have absolutely no control over. If you get a response, thank them, tell them you get it, and offer up a new idea. This shows that you?re persistent and not just a one-idea dude. Then send the rejected query somewhere else.
When you have a chip — er, idea — get the most mileage you can out of it by double dipping, and you’ll get more assignments (and more money) with less work.
Tiffany Jansen is an American freelance writer and translator in the Netherlands. She is also the author of an award-winning children?s historical fiction series. You can find out more about her at www.tiffanyrjansen.com.
P.S. Carol Tice’s and my next Article Writing Masterclass starts in January, and we have THREE editors on board to critique your homework assignments and answer your questions: Current editors from Redbook and FSR (Full Service Restaurant) Magazine, and a former Entrepreneur editor. In this 10-week class, you’ll gain the skills and confidence to land lucrative article-writing gigs. Learn more and read raves from students on the Article Writing Masterclass website.
