Last week I was contacted by Roula Amire, the managing editor at Ragan.com, who wanted to know if they could run my ‘5 smart ways to create additional content for your company blog‘ post on their site. The email explained that they wanted to run the post, with my bio and a link back to here.
I was more than happy to do this, and replied telling Roula that they could use/link to any post I write. I think this is where I made my first mistake, and I’ll explain more later on this.
I received an email yesterday afternoon (That I didn’t get a chance to read till this morning), that gave me a link to the article as it would run tomorrow (Monday), and added ‘here’s our edit of your piece’. When I saw the word ‘edit’, I immediately got worried, because I never gave Roula or Ragan.com permission to edit the post.
I checked the link, and the title of the post had been changed, as well as the content. Not drastically, but a few small edits here and there (NOTE: As soon as I saw the edited version of my post on Ragan.com, I emailed Roula asking her to change the title back and add a link to my post here. While writing this post, she emailed me back to let me know she was making those changes, here is the post link she sent me – UPDATE, right before publishing this piece, I see that Roula has changed the title back and added a link here to the post at the end of the article.) Obviously, by changing the title of the post and a few changes in the wording (and by NOT linking back to the original post), the site is making it appear that I wrote the piece for Ragan.com. I did not. And the kicker is, I know that many of my readers also read Ragan.com. So they will likely read that post and remember the ORIGINAL post here that it came from. And then they will think ‘Wait…so Mack is republishing his stuff on Ragan.com and changing the title so it looks like it’s a new article?’ So both Ragan and I end up looking bad.
This is an important lesson learned for me, and hopefully it will be for you as well. I should have had Ragan.com CAREFULLY explain EXACTLY what they were going to do with the article. And I should have made it expressly clear to them that they could NOT edit the content of the post. Yes, that’s a no-brainer and they should have known better, but I should have also known better than to assume they wouldn’t do this. I am asked to republish my posts on other sites from time to time, and the format always is that they will republish the post/article, with a link back to the original post/article. I shouldn’t have assumed that Ragan was going to do the same thing.
So if you are contacted by another site about having your content republished there, here are some tips learned the hard way:
1 – Make sure the site understands that they MUST link back to your original post/article on your site, and that they MUST mention that ‘The original post/article can be found here – ‘, with a link to it.
2 – Make sure the site understands that they do NOT have your permission to edit the post/article (unless you say it’s ok, which I advise against) , and that it must appear verbatim as it does on YOUR blog/site.
3 – Contact other writers that have had their work republished on the site, and ask their opinions. Ask them if it went as the site said it would, or were there any surprises.
4 – Take the time to pay attention to the request. This is where the fault is all on me. The initial email from Roula came late last week while I was in Memphis on client work, and I hurried through the email request to republish the article. Then yesterday when Roula sent me an email explaining how the article would look on the Ragan site, I should have checked it then, but her email came as I was prepping for #blogchat, so I decided to check it out today.
But I think for sites that contact bloggers about republishing their content, please make sure there aren’t any surprises. Please careful explain EXACTLY what you want to do with the content, and how it will appear on the site. If you want to make edits to the content, explain that up front. Send a final draft of how the post will appear on your site, and ask for the blogger to APPROVE the draft, before you publish it.
Well this was a learning experience for me, what has been your experience in having other sites republish your content? Did you learn anything you can share with us?
I guess it’s just about being clear right up front about your expectations. Sucks that you have to do that, but you can’t have people reworking your content and a manner that is misleading.
Even when I submit posts to editors of other sites, I’m sometimes very unhappy to find that they’ve edited my work not just for grammer, or format, but have also inserted links to their sponsors within my content. It’s misleading, and unfair to the (unpaid) content creator in my opinion.
David, Scribnia
Hey David, editing your work without telling you is bad enough, but doing so and adding links so they can attempt to monetize your work is indefensible, unless this was agreed to by you beforehand.
I emailed Roula that I wrote this post, and suggested to her that she make it a policy to send bloggers the final draft of the post/article, and wait for their approval before Ragan publishes it. I think this would all but remove any chance of the writer/blogger being surprised by what they see on the site. Good reminder for any site that wants to republish/repurpose someone else’s content.
Mack,
Kudos to you for consistently sharing your own personal learning experiences with your readers. It’s one of the many reasons (I believe) that you have such a loyal following. 🙂
This is great advice to a newbie like me who has only had a few of these requests to date, but from blogs that are not nearly as highly trafficked as Ragan. I can certainly see how the editing of your post/title could have negative ramifications on your reputation with readers, and does a disservice to you.
It’s also a great reminder to ensure we have clear expectations in writing when working with *anyone* who is handling our content – and not just clients.
Thanks again, Mack,
@LisaPetrilli
.-= Lisa Petrilli´s last blog ..The ROI of Playing the Fool =-.
Thank you Lisa! Honestly, I started writing this post when I was still pretty mad, and it was definitely going to be a rant at that point. But I realized that *I* was partly to blame for this situation, so instead of bitching, I could turn this into something more positive that others could learn from.
‘Never assume’ 😉
Mack
Thanks for sharing your experience. You would not expect this when someone reaches out and asks you if they can use the article as the presumption is that they will use it “as is” and not alter/edit or anything of the like. I would expect that this would be someone who just takes the liberty of using without asking. Maybe I am naive and this an article to keep stashed in the back of the mind to refer to when someone asks to use article. Lay out the terms of how it can be used in the initial email response back granting permission.
@SuzanneVara
I read the other post and it is amazing how they basically changed everything about your post. Even I feel upset and it isn’t me so I can just imagine how you feel. This is very upsetting and a great warning for all of us. A reminder that all opportunities are not good ones.
.-= Toya´s last blog ..In The World Of Caffeine’d Social Networking- How Relevant Is SEO =-.
I think this is great advice. Some of my clients and followers will appreciate this. I look forward to many more insights from you.
For what it’s worth, when you write content on one site “must appear verbatim as it does on YOUR blog/site” you are neglecting Google which deducts SEO points from both sites that duplicate content appears.
.-= Ari Herzog´s last blog ..The Most Important Reason For Doing Anything =-.
Hi Mack, I just went through a similar process with Ragan.com.
First, my “How to Pitch Social Media To Your Boss” post was introduced then linked to via on PRDaily.com. The little intro had a different title but wasn’t a verbatim excerpt of my post so I didn’t think it was that big a deal…and there was traffic.
A few days later, I also received an email from Roula at Ragan.com asking to publish the post. I reviewed the site and it was apparent that it was related to PRDaily.com. After reviewing the site I decided to go for it.
When I received the email from Roula with the link to the edited version, I wasn’t totally surprised to see the edits that were made. I think my original post was much better and more multi-dimensional, so I weighed that with the benefit of increased site traffic and exposure.
When I send out press releases, news sites will often edit press release content. Sections get hacked off, links are forwarded to home pages, and sometimes only one link is allowed. They do that so that the news items fit in with their style and “program.” I approached the Ragan.com site situation the same way so I told them to go ahead with what they had edited.
At that point I no longer treated the blog post as an individual work of art, but as a marketing communication and promotion piece. For me, the farther it reaches, the better – as long as the message is the same and that all communications from the company are truthful and not misleading.
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Mack, I want to say that I’m learning a great deal from you and from your blog. Your open and transparent approach to social media is very refreshing and is pushing me to do the same. Thank you!
.-= @JesseLuna´s last blog ..5 Hot Tips For Serious News Hounds =-.
Hey Jesse! I definitely hear you on measuring the value of additional exposure vs having your piece altered. The problem I had with the editing was that it made it appear as if I had written (and was writing) an original piece for Ragan. And I didn’t want anyone to read Ragan.com and think ‘Ok wait…isn’t this the same thing Mack wrote on his own site a few days ago?’.
And thanks for the compliment, Jesse. I know some people think I am sharing ‘too much’, but I mean that’s how we learn, right? Everytime I show where I screwed something up, others share their experiences and we all learn together. I get smarter by showing how dumb I can be sometimes 😉
At the end of the day, the real measure of a business (and personal) interaction is how it makes one feel.
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I agree, a sharing environment is a learning environment. That’s one reason the #blogchat community is so strong under your leadership, Mack.
.-= @JesseLuna´s last blog ..5 Hot Tips For Serious News Hounds =-.
Mack, first of all you don’t share “too much,” at least, not that I’ve noticed. I’ve unsubscribed from several other high-profile PR/comm/SM bloggers precisely because of that reason; or because their content is so repetitive and quasi-promotional I feel like I’m being sold a dud.
A few weeks ago Ragan picked up one of my pieces – How Edmund Cude Uses Mobile to Rent Apartments – for PRDaily.com. As Jesse experienced, they changed the title and gave it an intro and then linked to my piece. I was, and still am, fine with that, and certainly welcomed the additional exposure which can mean a lot to not-huge bloggers like me. I wouldn’t be fine with it if they edited a post in its entirety.
Jesse – I think press releases are completely different from blog posts. The point of a press release is to provide pertinent information for an original article, if they so decide. (That many of them are lazy and don’t bother with originality is another story altogether.) Yes, it’s irritating when they don’t use the links, etc., provided, but that’s something that’s being offered up to them for their use if they determine it’s valuable. Coming to a blogger and requesting permission to re-post is different, because here the media is initiating the inquiry. So in my view, they’re obligated to play by the blogger’s rules; or at least be very clear about how they will republish the post.
Mack, it’s interesting to me that Ragan hasn’t weighed in on this conversation. Perhaps I should add “yet”? Have they tried engaging with you following the publishing of this post in any other forum, e.g. Twitter, etc.?
.-= Shonali Burke´s last blog ..How The UK’s NHS Broke Into Social Media =-.
Shonali, Roula just left a comment below, so I’ll combine my thoughts to both of you to avoid being a comment hog 😉
As I suggested to Roula, I would have it set up so the article won’t be published till the blogger/writer approves it. I understand that might sometimes mean having to wait an extra day or two before you can run a piece (and that might occasionally mess up your calendar), but it means your bases are covered because the blogger/writer will have signed off on the piece BEFORE it is published. That was the biggest disconnect for me, I assumed (which again, was partly my fault) that the post would be reprinted on the Ragan site with a link back to the post here. Because that’s the format other sites have used when asking permission to republish a post of mine. When I saw that the title AND post had been edited, plus that there was a link back to this site INSTEAD of the post, well I was a bit upset because that wasn’t at all what I was expecting or thought I was agreeing to.
My apologies for not weighing in earlier. When I contact a blogger to run their piece on ragan.com, I send them our edits in advance for their approval. In this case, I neglected to offer Mack an ample amount of time to take a look and approve or disapprove before it ran. I should have held the story until I heard back. I am sorry for that, and have already apologized to Mack via e-mail. I’ve run Ragan.com for two years and have never encountered a problem as such primarily due to the fact that I run everything by the blogger in advance. Jesse can atest to this.
So, again, my apologies. There was no intention to mislead readers, etc.
Roula – good for you for writing in!
I don’t think Mack implied that Ragan had any intention to mislead readers. I think he was simply pointing out what perception his and your readers might have; particularly since there is likely a large amount of cross-over, as he says in his post.
.-= Shonali Burke´s last blog ..North to Alaska =-.
Opps, I meant attest.
Howdy Mack. I really appreciate the tips. Very recently I have had the privilege of having some of my posts published in magazines for our industry. Overall the content was republished in the same way, but the editors did want to make some minor changes, which I was OK with. I will definitely give it more food for thought and pay closer attention. I had never thought of the same post coming across with a different message. Thanks for the insights.
.-= Jonathan Saar´s last blog ..NAA Then and Now—Always be Human =-.
Hi Mack, I recently received a request to share/republish an article through my website. I was happy to do that. However, when reading through the original article, I found that without some minor edits, the article may not go well with my readers. So if the tastes of two blog’s readers are different, it would make sense to make minor edits – ofcourse with a due credit to the original source and making it clear at the outset that the post has been adapted or cross-posted.
.-= Riyaz´s last blog ..Are You Using the Right Blog Editor =-.
I had a similar experience that has left me wary of sharing my content on other sites. I chose to write a new piece and the site did some minor ‘edits’ and placed the content adjacent to some ads for skin care products. The end result made my content look as though I was endorsing the use of those products. They posted the article without my preview and it has since made it off to a number of their affiliate sites-argh! It’s been an ‘Alice in Wonderland’ experience for me.
I appreciate your advice and plan to use it next time I contribute content to another site.
.-= Cynthia Bailey MD´s last blog ..6 Tricks For Sun Protecting Your Skin In Really Hot Weather =-.
Cynthia that’s terrible that they positioned your content to appear as if it was endorsing another product! Sounds very similar to what David said happened to him.
It sucks because we want the additional exposure from having our content appear on another site, but we don’t think of how that site owner might intent to ‘use’ our content, for their own gain. These comments have been very interesting.
Hi Mack,
Thank you for sharing your experience. I haven’t had someone edit my post, but I do have people posting some of them without permission. In most cases, they have linked back to my site, but in some, there are no links. There is also no contact information available, making it hard to request removal or links.
Take care,
Debra
Thanks for the reminder and sharing your lessons learned, Mack. I have only had a couple such requests, but now I’ll be better prepared when that next request comes my way.
Cheers,
Ted
@tedlsimon