What To Do With Previously Published Items on Defunct Sites
When the Sites Go Down
When a site goes down taking your work with it, as long as you have a copy, you can republish.
When a site doesn't go down, but simply stops paying you, in some cases, you can't just copy and paste that item, because if the second site ran a plagiarism checker it would appear.
If you can remove and article and publish it elsewhere, fine. But if you can't remove it?
Some sites simply 'non-feature/unpublish' your work, this means that a plagiarism checker can not find it, because it is not published.
You can take that item, as is / where is and without deleting it from the first site publish it on another site.
The ponder for you, when dealing with an older item is should you rewrite it?
Should you change the article, breaking it into pieces, reorganising, making it different?
And then; what if a site doesn't run a plag checker?
As Is Where Is
The copy and paste, when a site no longer exists, seems 'knee jerk'. But then is it wise? To take something you published before and dust it off and pop it onto another site?
Or should you do a bit of work on it?
When you join a new site, and are not sure if it is dodgy, why invest a second of your effort?
If it is real and you publish something there that has been published elsewhere, (under a different name or a bit of spruce) and no one notices, then you are Home Free All.
You can spend your time simply copying and pasting from Old Site to New One.
If New One doesn't pay well, it isn't as if you did more than copy and paste.
If it does pay, you are ahead of the game.
Rewrite
To rewrite an item is simply to copy it onto a editing application, and go over it.
Is it the best it can be? Does it have images and are they the best?
Has your writing ability increased to the extent that you can substantially change the item and make it better?
Rewriting an item makes it a new item.
One can virtually publish the original on Site One and the Rewritten item on Site Two without breaching any rules of originality or plagiarism. That is how much your writing ability will approve over a few years.
It isn't just spelling, it is how you form a paragraph, the information you give in what fashion, so that even though you may not change the facts, how you present them would be the difference between a High School and University text.
Splicing
In the Old Days many sites demanded 2000 words; some 1000. Today, many sites want 500 or less.
Although some site Admins haven't appreciated the change, many readers want short and sharp. They don't want blah blah.
There are hack writers who, seeing this change, will take a 1000 word item, and just chop it. Make three items and feel good about it.
There are others, good writers, who will also make three or more items out of one, but each item is rewritten and can stand alone.
Long items, for example, historical ones, can be cut and retitled so that; (for example) One can take an article; Prime Ministers of England and chop it into; Prime Ministers of England in the 18th Century, Prime Ministers of England in the 19th Century...
So that each item is complete in itself.
Where there is an item which doesn't automatically allow such easy splicing you will have to read and carefully check how it can be broken without false or silly headings.
Writing; "Comedies of the 1960s" and having Part One and then Part Two might seem intelligent, but perhaps it would be better to find another set of titles, perhaps on "Family Comedies" or "Office Comedies" so that the sites would show up better on a search.
Think
When you republish, think about what you are doing.
Think if there are other copies, if there can be a rewriting of extensive nature which makes the item different,
Be conscious when you splice an item not just to count words and cuts. Pay attention and try to make each item stand alone.
