Hello everyone, I write for professional trade magazines in the video production niche. In 2010 I had an article published in a small Canadian magazine. Their writer's guidelines didn't mention anything about rights and neither did my correspondence with the editor. I'm now pitching the same topic to a (larger) U.S. magazine. I'm disclosing in my query that "it will be based on an article I published in 2010 but updated and at a higher technical level." Should I contact the Canadian editor or notify him of anything? Can I assume it was under first serial rights? We have a good working relationship and I'm having more articles published by him. Thanks!
since you want to keep a good relationship going there, go ahead and notify him... however, you should ALWAYS note on your first page above the word count, what rights you are selling/offering... and before that, ALWAYS be aware of what rights a venue is buying/acquiring, before submitting your work... that's what professional writers do... if the venue doesn't state what rights they want [they should!], you need to ask, before agreeing to let them publish your work... writing is a business, so go about it in a businesslike way, if you want to be taken seriously... meanwhile, congrats on getting published! love and hugs, maia
