The Quick and Dirty Guide to Freelance Writing by Scott Carney

Author:Scott Carney [Carney, Scott]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2014-09-21T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TEN

A Note On Editors

As a freelancer, you occupy a unique place in the media ecosystem. You are not on the staff at any particular publication and you sell your pieces to the highest bidder. Your ideas compete for space with other freelance writers and with staffers who often have an easier route through the pitch process. And even though you’re your own boss, you still work at the pleasure of your clients. They are your financial lifeline and your route to print. When it’s working, relationships between writers and editors can be nurturing. An editor will see your writing at its least confident and will work diligently to make it better. Some editors will go above and beyond what is expected of them and save a piece that might have been doomed to the rejection pile. At other times, editors are inattentive and may ignore a piece that has been in the editorial pipeline for weeks or even months—not returning e-mails and missing presumed deadlines. Finding someone with whom you work well is incredibly important to your success. An editor can be a mentor who can improve your skills and make you the writer that you want to be. You might even offer particular editors exclusivity with your pitches if you feel that they will treat you with respect.

The flip side of this is that you will not always have cozy and supportive relationships with everyone you work with. Sometimes you will work with someone who is perfect for you, only to discover that, once you have established a solid relationship, they get laid off or take a job at a different publication. It happens more than you might think. While every human relationship is nuanced and unique, my general rule of thumb is that I treat editors the way that they treat me. If I feel that someone is dismissive of my ideas out of hand, I don’t necessarily feel like I owe them much effort to improve the relationship. If they give me respect, listen to my ideas and get back to me quickly, I will give them exclusivity on a pitch and put extra effort into producing the best piece that I can. If I feel that an editor is not very interested in my work, I generally am not interested in giving them my best.

One advantage of being a freelance writer is, once you’re over the initial hurdle of establishing a revenue stream, you no longer have to worry about getting laid off. If you publish regularly in four or five magazines, it doesn’t matter if one or two of them go under, or an editorial re-shuffling leaves you without a contact. Editors who seem to sit at a cushy place on the masthead are often much more scared of losing their job than you are. One bad season or failed product launch can end their career. In fact, the turnover at magazines is so terrifyingly high for people in the middle of the masthead

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.