When Writing Sites Collapse

Writing sites are closing all over the Net.   If you don’t keep copies of your work, thinking they are safe online, think again.   For if that is the only copy, it will be gone when the site slams its doors.

Most people, however, have a raw copy on their computers so can republish.

As the site is gone, the work is gone, plagiarism is off the table.  There is no other copy of your work.   It is not a ‘republish’ as much as a ‘publish’.

There are other situations in which a site no longer pays, your work is sitting there, and many sites do not allow you to delete.

The reason you can not delete your own work  is because many sites have it written into their Terms of Service (or Terms of Use) that they Own everything you publish…EVEN IF THEY DON’T PAY FOR IT.

Read the TOS;  you may be shocked by the ‘rights’ these sites capture.  And you, who never thought of reading the Terms of Service (or Terms of Use) now realise your work has been stolen as much as that man putting a gun to your head steals your cell phone.

What to Do?

Go to the site and copy your article. Now, rework it.

In olden days, publishing sites demanded 2,500 words.  Some ‘only’ 1,000 words.  Today, many sites prefer between 300 and 500, with the odd site wanting no more than 200.

This means that the item you wrote which is over 1k words long, can be cut in half, and each half turned into another article.  A better article than that on the previous site.

Many times, if you glance at an item you wrote two years ago, your talent has grown so your ability is superior.  That item you published two years ago is not as good as what you could do today, so, take the item, and rewrite it.

By rewriting, I mean every sentence.  Changing the paragraphs,  many of the words and references.   Changing trite expressions to new, more explanatory ones.

Further, when the original is twice the size necessary, making two, three, even four items out of that one is more than possible.

You don’t just chop it, you go over it, you elaborate, you go for clarity, you add information.

If I had written a piece about the Viet Nam war which was 2,500 words, I am looking at five or six separate articles, in which each one deals with an aspect; whether a period of time,  during a particular presidency; etc.

The original could be a boring Wikipedia entry, but what I am posting now is fresh and sharp with new data, data I had left out, or had not interpreted.

Further, the titling of an item becomes important.  If someone was looking up; “Protests during the Viet Nam War”  you have put all that information into a 500 word article.

If another is searching for; “Battle for Saigon”, that would be the title of another piece of your long article which was simply, “The Viet Nam War.”

Cutting up a long article gives you a great deal of power.  You create a full, stand alone item with a title that makes it unique.

Rewriting a previously published item, bringing to bear all of your skill and knowledge and word usage, makes if far superior to what was.