Marketing Reprints Through International Syndication:
An Interview with Sheila O'Connor

by Moira Allen

One way to make the most of your articles is to sell reprints overseas. However, many writers don't have time to check out markets so far away; sample copies can be expensive or hard to obtain; and postage, along with return IRCs, can also be costly. An alternative to the "do-it-yourself" approach is to hire a syndication agent to market your work abroad. Many syndication agents will sell your previously published pieces both in the U.S. and overseas. To find out how this process works, GWI interviewed Sheila O'Connor, owner of International Media Association.

Q: How does international syndication work?

To submit your article for syndication, you send a double- spaced manuscript to a syndication agent, who mails copies to overseas markets. Some agents also send manuscripts to overseas contacts, who send the material on to markets they work with on a regular basis. Note that this is not the same as syndicating a column: Agencies sell individual articles, and prefer material that has been previously published in the U.S. Syndication agents are not in the business of finding markets for unpublished works; they prefer to work with material that already has a track record of publication.

Q: How to writers get paid for their work?

Some agencies buy articles outright for a flat fee. The downside of this approach is that you never know how often a piece gets sold or where it is published. And since you receive only a single fee, you never make another penny from your work. Another approach is to offer your work to an agency on a "shared basis," which means that every time the agency sells your piece, you get a share of the fee. Commonly, the split is 50/50. With this method, the more the agency makes, the more the writer makes. You also don't lose all rights to your material, but are free to sell it on your own (though the syndication agent will want to know about any sales you make so as to avoid duplication of effort).

Q: What type of material does well in syndication?

Subjects that have proven successful in international syndication include women's or men's pieces, articles on relationships, self-help, health, fitness, arts, humor, paranormal, seniors, lifestyle, mainstream consumer pieces, "history of" an everyday item, short hotel pieces, and travel (with slides). However, just about anything that's been published before has a good chance of being published again.

Q: What article length is best for this market?

Short articles on hotels can run as low as 500 words (with good slides). Consumer articles (such as self-help, women's articles, etc.) can run up to 1,800 words. Anything between these two extremes can be fine too. In some cases, magazines pay per word, but most just pay per article, so there's no point in writing something that's too long.

Q: Should a writer send a manuscript or tearsheets of articles?

When a writer first contacts me and has a number of published pieces, it's best to send a list of what was published, the date, and where the material appeared. A few tearsheets of sample pieces work well to give me a sense of the writer's style. From there, I can contact the writer and ask to see the pieces on the list that I think would work best for international syndication.

[Editor's Note: Sheila also asks the writer to come up with generic query letters for the pieces that she chooses to market.]

Q: Should a writer send photos with a submission?

If you send travel articles with slides, please don't send originals. We are at the mercy of the international postage system, and I can't be responsible for what happens to pictures once they are editorial offices. The best way to preclude this problem is to send only duplicates.

Q: What is the typical rate for a feature-length article?

There is no "typical" rate. I have sold articles for as little as $25 (to small, usually local publications) and for as much as $1,000. The latter is not common, and many pieces sell for between $50 and $200. It depends on the market, and even more on the country's economy (a piece would sell for more in the U.S. than in India, for example).

Q: What rights do you obtain from a writer?

The writer always retains copyright. I sell one-time rights or second-time rights in the country where the magazine is based. I do not usually sell Internet rights. Most of the magazines I deal with are happy to work with reprint rights.

Q: How often are you likely to sell a single piece?

I have sold many pieces two or three times; the highest number of sales for a single piece so far is six (though I'm still sending it out). This depends on many factors outside the agent's control: The amount of material the magazine is looking for at a particular time, the amount of editing the editor would need to do to make the article a perfect match, perhaps even the mood the editor is in on the day s/he reads the submission! Magazines come and go in this industry, and I am still selling pieces of my own that I wrote ten years ago. Many "evergreen" pieces will sell more than once. I can't do this with a "timely" piece, however. Those can often be sold only once.

Q: What types of publications do you target?

I target consumer magazines primarily, especially those most in line with the subjects mentioned above.

Q: Are international publications more open to agented submissions?

That's hard to say. However, the editors I work with are glad to see submissions from an agent, because the agent already knows the magazine's style from having worked with them for so long. Editors know that articles passed on by an agent have already been "vetted" for suitability. While this is no guarantee of publication, it cuts down on the amount of inappropriate material the editor has to read.

Q: How long does the process take?

If a writer includes a SASE or submits by e-mail, I send an acknowledgement very quickly. Otherwise, I assume they don't need an acknowledgement. As for the second question, it's the same as when writers send out material themselves: We're at the mercy of editors. Many of my editors don't acknowledge submissions (they'd rather get on with publishing the magazine), and often I just receive the issue of the magazine in the mail along with a check once a piece has been published. I like to tell people to give it a year before publication happens, and that their patience is appreciated.

Q: Do you tell writers where their articles have been sold?

This is the downside of syndication (you knew there had to be one, right?). I always send a tearsheet of the article, if one has been sent to me, along with the writer's payment. I include the country of the publication, but I don't give out the name of the publication, as I learned early on that writers could go over my head and write for the magazine directly next time. Since it has taken me ten years to build relationships with these editors and hunt out these markets around the world, I need to protect my business interests. If I gave out this information, there would be no need for writers to use my syndication services! In some cases (very few), I don't get a copy of the publication at all, in which case I send a note with the fee to indicate that no copy was received, but I still include the country of the publication. I knew it can be disappointing not to have the magazine's name so you can add it to your "publications" list, but most of my writers are happy to mark their work as "published overseas by International Media Association."

Q: What is the benefit of using a syndication agent?

One advantage is that a syndication agent keeps track of market developments abroad. For example, I have held off selling anything to Malaysia at the moment because their economy is in a bad way, and my markets in that country can't pay for material.

However, the primary advantage to syndication is that it enables a writer to move on. Writers often lose interest in marketing the same articles once the "novelty" has worn off. When they pass such pieces over to a syndication agent, it frees them to get on with the business of writing new material. Meanwhile, the fees from those extra sales provide a nice "bonus" -- extra money for no extra effort.

Editor's Note: This interview does not constitute an endorsement of International Media Association. Different syndication agents work in different ways; before choosing an agent, be sure to get a complete listing of terms and conditions, and be sure that you are comfortable with the agency's policies.

For more information, see:

Making the Most of Your Inventory (Selling Reprints) - Dana Cassell

One Article, Many Checks: Selling Reprints - Kelly James-Enger

Selling Reprints - Moira Allen

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