Hi Carol—
I’m a writer, just starting out. I’m based in Australia and I have had a couple of articles published and am wanting to sell them to other publications. What is the best way of going about this? I have not signed an exclusivity agreement with the editor of the publication I have written for; she is aware I want to to sell them and has agreed.
Do I write to one editor at a time to offer them the opportunity to buy the article, or can I e-mail ten at a time? Do I have to state where it was published the first time? Can the article be exactly the same, or would I have to change it in some way? Do I actually send them the entire article and suggest a price? Any hints would be much appreciated.
Thanks, Carol,
Helen
Dear Helen,
That’s quite a few questions, but let’s see if I can cover them all.
Most important, your contract gives you the right to sell the articles elsewhere, so you are free to peddle them either exactly as they are or in altered form. You are obligated to mention up front their previous publication.
From that point on, the buyer gets to answer the rest of the questions. You can get a preview of their answers by checking the submission guidelines at the websites of publishers before you contact them. They will usually say whether or not they consider work that has been previously published, whether they require an exclusive look at it, whether they prefer a query or the entire article, and what they pay. During editing, they will advise you on whether a credit for the previous publication is necessary (but it’s your responsibility to secure the information).
Three more tips: (1) Keep a spreadsheet of all your submissions with names, dates, etc., so you know where to withdraw your work if you sell it elsewhere. (2) If you are making simultaneous submissions, etiquette demands disclosure of this fact in your cover letter. (3) If you submit to a single publisher, consider stating a date after which you will feel free to send the piece elsewhere. Otherwise you might be waiting by the mailbox forever.
Carol
Dear Carol:
A trivia question I asked my staff: Is there a grammatical category to describe a verb in English that can mean both an action and its near-opposite action? Examples that come to mind are the verbs to sanction (to forbid/punish or to allow/permit) and to breach (to split/separate or to “breach a gap”/unite). Here at the UN, the former verb matters, since a phrase reading, for example, “Muslim states move to sanction drinking in public,” must never be misinterpreted or mistranslated!
David Winch
Chief, Editing Unit, Groupe d’édition bur., United Nations Geneva
Dear David,
I have no idea. I do, however, have a colleague who could answer this question in his sleep, so I tossed it to Geoffrey Pullum, professor of linguistics at the University of Edinburgh, who writes for Language Log and Lingua Franca. His reply: “Auto-antonym is probably the clearest. Some people contract it to autantonym. Other terms are: contranym, antagonym, Janus word, enantiodrome, self-antonym, antilogy, or addad.”
I’m guessing you’ll want him on your trivia team from now on.
Carol
Hi, Carol:
How would I know when you’ve posted an entry on your blog in Lingua Franca?
Thanks,
George Hook
Dear George:
Thanks for asking! I will post a link here whenever I blog at LF, so if you already subscribe to this RSS feed, you’ll be notified automatically. The feed at Lingua Franca also notifies readers whenever a new post goes up (though not necessarily mine), so that’s another option.
Carol