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Think Globally!

© Roxianne Moore

If you've been selling your work regularly, but you can't get your freelance income up to the independence level, maybe the real problem is that you're only selling your article once.

During the next few weeks, I'll take a look at a couple books and maybe some Web sites that show how you can sell and re-sell your work to new markets.

The Writer's and Photographer's Guide to Global Markets by Michael Sedge has some excellent ideas for expanding your markets and re-selling your work. I've got to tell you, I've read this book through twice, and it was even better the second time around. I got the book for review just about the time I started trying to re-sell my work overseas. Talk about timing!

Sedge addresses some of the biggest concerns for global marketers:

• Knowing the International Market
• Finding Foreign Publications
• The Approach
• What's for Sale: Rights
• Sex, News, Interview, and Travel
• Foreign Language Sales
• What's It Worth?
• Using the Net

He also delves briefly into Hong Kong and United Kingdom markets, in-flight magazines, agencies, and selling books. You'll learn how to discover a country's taboos and preferences. Knowing what's acceptable in a foreign market could mean the difference between a sale and permanent blacklisting (it's a very bad idea to offend the editor because you didn't know the rules!).

Perhaps one of the most valuable sections is the appendix, where he gives e-mail addresses for international media, suggested reference materials, and foreign agencies.

Another plus for this guide is that it's directed at both writers and photographers. If Sedge is to believed, the international markets are hungry for good photo-article packages. And, if you're not a photographer, he also gives tips for learning this useful skill and using to augment your writing.

About my only complaint with the book is that it didn't fully address one problem I've already encountered with global sales: getting paid. He does discuss banking arrangements to facilitate wire transfers and cashing of foreign checks, but not in enough detail to help with my problem. Here's what he has to say about payment:

Some foreign publications will pay in U.S. dollars, if you require it (alhtough they still base payments on local currency). . . . If you are working with a publication that does not follow this practice, it may be easier for both parties to have payments made by wire transfer, directly from the client's bank to yours.

The problem I'm having is that I've sold a series of articles to a small South African publication. The publisher's bank will not issue a check in U.S. dollars, and has so far not permitted a direct transfer. We're still hashing this out, and we still have a few options to try, but I'd hoped Sedge's guide would help.