When you submit an article to Associated Content, you also grant them rights to use your content for their own purposes (mainly distributing it to partners and making more moolah off it).  Associated Content currently has three options to choose from–exclusive, non-exclusive, and display only–which allows you to control how they use your content.

Exclusive Rights

This is the first rights option you can choose.  Exclusive rights allows Associated Content to:

• Distribute the article with partners, if they choose to

• Have first and only dibs on how the article is used–you can’t republish or repost the article

• Giving them exclusive rights allows them to have full control of the article, which makes AC very happy, monetarily-speaking.  You permanently lose your rights to republish or repost the article anywhere else online.

This level of rights is often not recommended because you lose the opportunity to use the article to make more money (i.e.; you can’t resell the article to another customer).  Associated Content does pay a slightly higher upfront payment for exclusive articles, however.

Non-Exclusive Rights

This is the option most writers choose when submitting articles.  Here’s why:

• You give them the right to distribute it to partners

• You can republish or resell the article anywhere else

• The article is still eligible for upfront payment

The only disadvantage is that Associated Content only pays for articles not published elsewhere.  They want first rights.  You can republish it on a different website after it is published, but you cannot submit an article already published online.

Display Only Rights

This is the lowest level of rights you can grant them.  You only give them the rights to display the article.  Some writers favor this because:

• You can submit previously published articles

• You can also republish it anywhere else after it is published

• The article is automatically published–no need to wait for a content manager to review it

• You can delete or edit the article after it is published

DO articles sound great, but the biggest disadvantages are losing out on the ability to get upfront payments.  It automatically bypasses manual review.  Associated Content also does not distribute DO articles with partners.  You still receive performance payments, however.

This article is a part of the AC Tutorials series on WJR.  To view all of the articles included in this series, visit the AC Tutorials section.