Life as a freelance writer
Seeing reruns of CSI: Miami on three different channels this week reminded me of something that freelance writers often forget: you can create a sustainable income for yourself by repurposing your own work. Just like the producers of CSI: Miami earn money with each rerun of the show on all the different channels I saw it on, freelance writers can do the same. You worked at creating your article, so why not have it work for you?
(Note: Some of these ideas depends on the rights you retained on your original article, so please re-read your contract/agreement before following any of my suggestions.)
What other angles could you write about using the same research? Are there are any publications out there that could use the new article? For example, while researching that article on your favourite sports team, you probably found out some information on how much ticket prices are, didn’t you? Use your notes to write up another article and submit it to a different publication. BAM! Repurposing #1.
If there are any similar publications in a different market that could use your article, revise the article so that it’s not exactly the same as the first submission, and send it off to those other publications. BAM! Repurposing #2.
Similar to Repurposing #1, this one changes your magazine article into a web article. There are numerous blogs and online magazines that need articles, so there’s probably a new market for your article out there. Remember that writing for the web is different than writing for print, so you’ll have to do a quick edit to make sure your article’s looking and reading its best. BAM! Repurposing #3.
I'm a freelance technical writer who's trying to make the transition from working for somebody else to working for me.
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