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Q: Let's say I have an article accepted by a publication which folds before it publishes it. Can I send the article out again for publication?

A: Sometimes getting paid a kill fee, or even a full fee, isn't as satisfying as seeing that byline, don't you think? This unfortunately happens more than you (or I, anyway) would think.

"Many years ago, I wrote a piece on the Crest toothpaste ads on TV (in which I talked about being chosen to brush with "ordinary" toothpaste, rather than Crest, and how it affected by life afterwards), and I sent it to the Realist magazine, edited by Paul Krassner," says freelancer Peter Friedman.

"I heard nothing about the piece and forgot about it. Then six years later, the piece appeared in The Last Supplement to the Whole Earth Catalogue, of which Krassner was the editor, along with a note from him saying that, if I cared to submit anything else in the future, he wouldn't take as long to respond. That was the longest response time I ever experienced. Subsequently I also sold the piece to Advertising Age, which responded within a week."

Unless you have a contract giving the now-defunct all rights, and unless they pay you the full amount under that contract, you own the story, so you can re-sell it. Or, if the magazine is on the ball, it will send you a reversion of rights form when they fold. "I had an article accepted by the now late lamented Lifetime for Women," says New York freelancer Lisa Collier Cool. "Fortunately, my meeting cute story also fit the format for the How They Met section of Ladies Home Journal, so I was able to resell it--and make twice as much for the article as I would have if Lifetime hadn't folded. Their loss was my gain. I didn't have to ask for the reversion of rights form, though: Lifetime sent a letter giving me back the rights about a month after the magazine folded."

[Read update and correction on this here.](Also, unless the contract is all-rights, full fee, or unless it includes a kill fee, you won't get any money, either.) Sometimes, you might get paid and be able to re-sell it.

If still in doubt, call your former editor and ask what the protocol is (actually, more specifically, call the former editor and ask for the number of the legal department, if you don't have it.) The editor might even take pity on you and recommend another publication where it might fit. "Years ago, American Health for Women decided to publish an article of mine in their February issue," says Collier Cool. "However, they folded in January, leaving my article orphaned. But the editor was nice enough to tell an editor friend at Self magazine about my story, and they bought it (but wanted some additional research and a slight change of angle).

If, however, you do not have rights to re-sell, you can always re-slant the article and sell it elsewhere as a new piece.