Article Reprint Strategy - Good or Bad?

While it seems most writers don't allow their articles/posts to be reprinted by others, I have come across a couple of writers/marketers who generously do allow this practice. They allow their posts to be reprinted by other writers to be used on their blogs or in their FREE newsletter. Obviously, anything being offered to reprint should never be reprinted in something you are selling, such as an e-book or report.

I'm surprised that more writers don't take advantage of this reprint strategy. The benefits seem obvious - let's look at four of them.

Four Benefits of Allowing Reprints

1. You have written something that someone else views as valuable.
2. You increase your visibility.
3. You increase traffic back to your site.
4. You never know who will see that article/post or where it will end up.

What About Giving Your E-books Away?

I have also seen this reprint practice utilized with e-books, and it peaked my interest. These informational e-books plainly state, in the beginning of the content, that readers may freely pass it along. This technique generates additional visibility and is a great promotional tool and marketing opportunity.

In fact, I recently started taking advantage of this practice with one of my e-books. All the writer needs to do is request permission to offer my e-book as a freebie on their site.
Yes, at present I require permission, but that may change as I begin to write more e-books.

Word of Caution Here

Please remember, it's essential, when taking advantage of a writer's reprint offer, to always keep the article or e-book intact. Be sure to use the author's byline and/or any other text and links that they have as part of the bargain. It's a win-win situation: the author increases his visibility and you get an article to use on your blog or in your newsletter, or you get a free e-book to offer on your site.

Are There Drawbacks to Using Reprints or Offering Them?

Obviously, there are a couple of circumstances in which offering or using reprints isn't advisable, such as: you wrote the article specifically for a magazine or ezine and publishing elsewhere is restricted, or you may not want to use an article with a byline that will send your reader to a site that offers the same services you do (a competitor's site). But, all-in-all, this is a practical marketing plan.

Why not utilize this practice. It will be a supplemental tool to be used along with your ezine article marketing. These two strategies combined will certainly generate and increase visibility and traffic back to your site.

For more information on writing and marketing visit Karen and Robyn Writing for Children. Subscribe and get two writing and marketing e-books that are sure to help you on your road to publication, marketing and sales.