Got an Email About a Hub I Wrote. Please Help

1. 77

   lilmissmontanaposted 11 years ago

   I got an email from a gentleman about a Hub I wrote ("Camping Tips and Tricks for an Amazing Adventure"). In the email, he asked if he could reprint my article on behalf of camping and travel trailer websites and then give me acknowledgement and any link I wanted to provide him with.
   
   My question is... does this seem legit? Is it something that I should even consider. I have never received an email like this one, and I have no idea how to respond or what to expect.

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   1. 48

      Writer Foxposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      No way.  Don't let anyone reprint your entire article. Tell him that he can use a one-sentence description of your Hub and link to it. Your traffic from Google can nose-dive if you allow your content to be duplicated.  If you want to, you could offer to sell him your article and remove it from HP.

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   2. 79

      wildernessposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Amazing!  You have come across an honest site owner out there!
      
      It sounds legit, but I would consider very carefully whether to give permission or not.  It is quite possible that his version will rob yours of most or nearly all it's traffic - there would be no reason for anyone to visit your hub after reading the copy, so any links are useless.
      
      Can you perhaps choose a phrase or two, perhaps a paragraph, as a "hook" and suggest that it be used with a link, but not the entire hub, thus pushing traffic your way?

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   3. 0

      Christy Kirwanposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Hi lilmissmontana,
      
      If the articles are being distributed in print, it's up to you to allow what you're comfortable with. However, if the articles are going to be posted elsewhere online, we strongly recommend against granting permission, since you (or the gentleman distributing the articles) will likely run into duplicate content issues both on HubPages and with Google.
      
      Though, you can always do as WriterFox recommends and allow him to print a short teaser (just a few lines from your Hub) with a link to your content.

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      1. 77

         lilmissmontanaposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Thank you Christy! I responded yeaterday evening with WriterFox's proposal and I haven't recieved word back. I'm assuming it wasn't the answer the gentleman was looking for. But I think it was a good idea and I'm happy I didn't give permission and in turn, lose traffic.

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2. 71

   Baby-Boomer-58posted 11 years ago

   You could start by asking him to provide you with links to other articles on the site/s he refers to so you can see for yourself exactly what he is proposing.

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3. 77

   lilmissmontanaposted 11 years ago

   Thank you for the responses. Traffic was my general concern also. But I am very impressed that he asked. He does have a HubPages account but isn't following anyone and doesn't have any hubs. I think I am going to ask him to link to my page. Without any compensation of any type, a link or acknowledgement isn't going to do me anything.

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4. 0

   anndangoposted 11 years ago

   What Writer Fox said. I received an email a while back from an online magazine wanting to use an article they'd seen here. I thanked them for asking for permission. I told them they could either use the headline and then a link here or they could buy it from me for $200.00 and I would delete it from Hubpages. They declined both options and I never heard from them again. Whatever you do don't let them just reprint your article - that's duplicate content.

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   1. 77

      lilmissmontanaposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you for the heads up. Although he asked permission, I feel like it's a jab to my writing. He expects to be able to use my writing for no compensation, for his monetary gain. Doesn't seem right. I had thought about offering a "buy" deal also and then deleting it from HubPages, but I didn't know how to go about it, or if that was okay. So, I wrote him and said he could use a hook phrase or a couple sentences and then link back to my article. We will see what he says, if anything at all.

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