Some years, selling reprints has made up to a third of my income. When you look at it one story at a time, it hardly sounds worth the effort. But if you have a well-written article on a popular topic, you can easily triple your rate from the initial publication. And considering I have stories that have sold 8-12 times, it could be even more.
How to Sell Reprint Articles
I’m not going to go into the nitty gritty of how to sell reprint articles in this post because I wrote that for Make a Living Writing a couple years ago.
Rather, the purpose of this post is to share some places to look for reprint markets.
Where to Find Reprint Markets
The best place to find publications that publish reprints is the regional magazine market. Think about it. An editor in Portland doesn’t care if a similar publication in Miami runs the same story because their readers are totally different.
Most of my reprint sales have come from the regional parenting niche. More recently, however, I’ve been selling to regional senior magazines.
These types of magazines belong to organizations. The organizations will sometimes have lists of their members on the site. That is where I start in my search for markets.
Following is a list of places to begin your search:
North American Mature Publishers Association
International Regional Magazine Association
City and Regional Magazine Association
For an even wider array of magazines, all in one location, visit Magazine Agent. You can choose your category in the sidebar, find a magazine, go to its website for submission guidelines and email the editor. Here is their link for travel and regional publications.
Understand, all publications are not created equal. Some regionals do not accept reprint articles. The one I used to edit did not. We also only worked with local writers. So creating your own list of reprint markets will entail reaching out to each publication and asking.
I used to send stories out blindly, not knowing if the publication printed reprints or not. That method proved fruitless. I know it is time consuming, but you will have greater success in the long run if you reach out, ask if they publish reprints, and if they work with non-local writers. And while you’re building your list, make a note of the magazine’s policy for queried articles. You will also make more money in the long run if you query for first rights, sell the story for a few hundred the first go round, then send out as a reprint once your contract terms are fulfilled.