First Sold Content

[caligulawolf]

Hello,

I've just had my first sale, and now I have my first question too. I have read all of the helpful author guidelines etc. and do not remember seeing any mention of my present inquiry, but if there is I apologize for asking anyway. I would very much like to use my sales here as a part of a sort of portfolio for my writing, is there any way to find out if the content was published somewhere for that purpose? Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

[sleepydoc]

I hope someone with more knowledge and experience will correct me if I am wrong, but I believe that if you sell for full rights, you give up the right to claim it as your own. If you put a byline on it and sell for use or unique rights, then maybe you would be able to do this. It seems, though that most purchases are for full rights. Keep in mind, also, that when you sell for full rights, the purchaser is able to change the article any way they want. If someone buys your article and then stuffs it full of product endorsements or something, then you probably don't want that to represent you as a writer.

Anyone else understand things differently, as I'm sort of new and just figuring these things out myself.

Good luck.

[Lysis]

Use Google alerts to find it. Sometimes, though, they use it for print or newsletters, so you don't ever see it.

[mnicol22]

As far as I know, selling an article for full rights means that you no longer have the copyright, so you can't mention anywhere that it is yours. The buyer may wish to present it as his own work and he has every right to do so. Usage or Unique licenses don't affect the copyright, so you can still mention that the article is yours.

[Celeste Stewart]

Some full rights purchasers leave the byline intact, so it doesn't hurt to see if you can find it.

[caligulawolf]

Thank you all!

I should have mentioned that it was not a unique or full rights purchase, I'm sorry for not being extremely informative there. I will certainly try the google search suggestion, but I was hoping to find it if it was in actual print. I very much appreciate all of your replies!