My Emails with an Editor

It's one thing to read about setting prices and granting rights. It's another thing to actually deal with an editor. Suddenly a dozen small questions cross your mind. Some of those questions are answered by my below email exchange with an editor. Responses are based on advice from Linda, a freelancer who's written for regional parenting magazines, Family Circle, Women's World, and others.

Hi Colleen, These are some cute ideas! Thanks for sending them. How much would you charge to reprint this piece? Would you grant web-posting rights as well as print rights? I might be interested in publishing it in a future issue. Best,
If the editor asks what you charge, acknowledge budget issues and ask what their standard rate is. Once she'd been writing articles for awhile, Linda started asking what the "high end" of their budget was.

Hi Susan, Great! Both print rights and nonexclusive web rights are available. I realize you're working on a budget, and hoped you could give me an idea of your standard pay range. Thanks,
She used my first name, so I used hers.

Thanks for getting back to me. For something this length, we’d usually pay $35, payable on publication. (i.e., if we were not able to run this, I would not purchase it.) Would we be able to get geographic exclusivity in the north/central region? Let me know your thoughts! Thanks so much. Best,
Ask editors if they have overlapping readership to ensure you don't make a mistake and send an article to regionally close publications.

No question, you would have geographic exclusivity; I haven't submitted to any other publications in the state to ensure there is no overlapping readership. If you end up publishing the article, I'd love it if you could let me know what overlapping readerships you do have. Your usual payment is in line with my standard pay rate. Of course if the piece doesn't run, I wouldn't expect payment. Thanks,

At this point, I'm hoping the editor will let me know if/when she's going to use it. They may  just print it and send a check. That works, too. :)