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What to do When You Can't Get Reprint Rights

By Joan Stewart The Publicity Hound

One of my clients, a bank, was ecstatic when the local daily newspaper featured it a few years ago in a big story at the top of the Sunday business page, complete with a color photo. But when the bank called the newspaper for permission to make reprints, they were denied. So the bank’s marketing director called me and asked, “Now what do we do?”

I told her to call the newspaper immediately and order as many back issues of that edition as she could get her hands on. Then she could clip the article and send it to whomever she wished, without violating copyright.

The “no reprint” rule is cropping up more frequently these days. Newspapers and magazines are trying to generate more revenue by denying reprint rights and, instead, offering their own expensive reprint services. In this case, the newspaper, which is owned by the giant Gannett chain, wouldn’t even make reprints. It simply refused to allow anyone to make reprints, period.

If a story appears about you or your company, call the publication immediately and ask for permission to reprint. If they say no, buy as many back issues as you can afford because you never know when you’ll need them. But do this immediately. Don’t wait a month or two after publication and then call, or the back issues might be gone.

Reprints are a valuable marketing tool and one of the very best ways to recycle your publicity. They can be used in dozens of ways. You can tuck them inside your media kit. See Special Report #8: Media Kits on a Shoestring--How to Create Them Without Spending a Bundle. You can post them in the electronic media kit at your website. See Electronic Media Kits: How to Create Them, Deliver Them and See INSTANT Results. You can hand them out at trade shows. You can include them in your handouts if you do public speaking. You can send them to existing clients or to prospects who you want to get in front of. You can even send them to editors of larger, non-competing publications along with a letter pitching your idea. See How to Write a Pitch Letter More Valuable Than a News Release.

Large publications like the New York Times, sometimes demand reprint fees of up to $5,000. If you are faced with a decision about whether to pay a whopping amount of money for the right to reprint an article, my advice is to spend the money if the publication is reputable and if you can afford it. A story in the New York Times is the same thing an as endorsement from the New York Times in many people's eyes.

And that, alone, can be worth thousands.