| Back to Home > Bulletin Board > Freelance Marketplace Forum > Topic: First Publication Rights?? |
Topic: First Publication Rights??
| Author | Message |
| starrysteph01 | Posted – 4/16/2007 2:32:32 PM | show profile | email poster I wrote a travel article and now want to shop it around to large newspapers. My hometown newspaper, The Washington Post, says that it buys all first publication rights. What does this mean? What if multiple newspapers want to publish the article? I don't want to sell it to one paper and then sell it to another that I'm not supposed to. Anyone know how this works? Thanks! |
| Village Gal | Posted – 4/16/2007 2:43:16 PM | show profile first of all , I suggest you query rather than send the completed piece. get the slant right for each pub. generally first rights means that you cannot sell it to other papers until the one you sold it to publishes it first. |
| westsidestory | Posted – 4/16/2007 4:25:59 PM | show profile local vs regional syndication The way to sell it to different areas is to offer "first serial rights in your market." However, because the Washington Post is considered somewhat of a regional paper, rather than city-specific, selling a story first to the Post might, for example, dampen the enthusiasm for a Baltimore editor. The above poster's advice to query your story first is good advice and will save you time. It will also allow you to query several markets across the country at the same time. If you can supply original digital photos with your story, that may help your pitch. Good luck! |
