Only the words are copyrighted.

Only the Words are Copyrighted! by David Geer Yes, it's true; only the words in the body of your article are copyrighted. The ideas behind them and usually even the titles aren't protected. This is actually good news. You can take the same basic facts from the same research, write a new and different article that will have its own copyright and end up with a separate, saleable entity. This practice can save you time and make you more money. Editors won't mind, really! Are you worried that this will bother some editors if they find out what you are doing? No, not the ones who know their stuff and have their heads on straight. I recently overheard an editor from one of the largest trade magazine publishers in the world sharing how writers could make more money. One very interesting point stood out. She (and most editors) really don't care if you write an article on a very similar topic for another publication as long as it's a completely different article. Use the same sources, different quotes, (you may occasionally need to include an additional source) and write a different article. How do you go about it? How do you come up with a second angle or idea from the same basic research? You can start by seeing what other topics are touched on in the original article. I once wrote a piece on handhelds as used by physicians in their practice. In addition to handhelds the article touched on doctors, training for interns, device add-ons for handhelds and handheld device software. By choosing these less central topics to write about, I have four more article ideas. If I go through my article and look for any questions that pop out which were left unanswered, I may have several more ideas. This all can be repeated with each subsequent article to generate even more. Now for each new article I go back through the research from the original article and write some boilerplate, tailored to the new topic. I write as much of the new article from what I already have as I possibly can. If I can't complete the new piece from there, then I go back to those I interviewed and tell them I have a wonderful surprise. They can get more exposure by answering just a few more questions for this new piece. Take that and write some more. If you don't have enough, go back to the same sources and ask them to direct you to another source who may be helpful. Interview him or her briefly, just enough to get what you need to fill in the cracks. Now you should have more than enough for a complete story. As long as you have written it from scratch, you have a completely new and separate copyright in the form of the new article. You can use this approach to pitch article manuscripts or you can tailor it to writing new queries. Then, come back to the process again to write the new assignment. Simply find your ideas as described above, collect one new source to add with the rest, and write the new query. If you're not sure the new piece is marketable, compare it with the old one yourself. As long as no two sentences are the same, you have an original work of art, ready for the unveiling. The standards for having an original copyright are not as stringent as most people, even most writers, tend to think. Relax and create!