Submitting your already indexed content to article directories

Submitting your already indexed content to article directories
Hi there,
I was just wondering what you guys felt on this situation?
Do those of you who submit articles to article directories/repositories write exclusively for the directories/repositories or do you publish the articles on your own site first, wait for search engines to index your article and THEN submit to the repositories?
Assuming you are indexed first and wait a while and then submit, will you be subject to any penalties in search engines?
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