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Catherine (not verified) says:
Here's a topic for magazine editors to ponder: editor rudeness. I am a semi-established freelancer with one book under my belt in the same genre for which I often write articles. I also have a blog but am making no money from it because I enjoy publishing my work for the joy of getting it out there without hassle and editorial predilections.
I have done this without an agent and periodic fits of tenacity. But it is wearing, especially when you discover that an editor for whom you've written many articles for in the past has published an article you pitched to them a year ago, that she never followed up about even though interested, and assigned to someone else. Or the promise of follow up to come from a new editorial relationship that just never comes, despite your ideas, your polite contact, their seeming enthusiasm. Or the lack of feedback about pitches, etc. in general. More than a few editors I've worked for in the past have often been indecisive, completely disorganized or end up rewriting the article to the point where there is no recognition of my own work.
It doesn't take long to e-mail "yes", "no" or "maybe" or to be at least semi-responsive. And I'm talking about established relationships between writers and editors, not an answer from the slush pile. It can be difficult enough to sustain and maintain these relationships where often the only contact is via e-mail or the occasional phone call.
If the magazines want good freelance writers and get them, they should learn how to keep them. Considering them "call girls" for hire or assignment and not returning their calls is not a good relationship or business methodology for anyone. Fortunately, I do not derive my sole income from freelance writing. Some would call this predicament not being "hungry" enough for it but I think J.D. Salinger had the right idea after all.
If magazines fail it is not because of the freelancers or the writing staff or the reading public or the internet. It is because magazine editors can be largely an unorganized, ungrateful rude bunch of folks and should court their writers--and photographers--as avidly as they probably do their publishers and advertisers.
Here's a topic for magazine editors to ponder: editor rudeness. I am a semi-established freelancer with one book under my belt in the same genre for which I often write articles. I also have a blog but am making no money from it because I enjoy publishing my work for the joy of getting it out there without hassle and editorial predilections.
I have done this without an agent and periodic fits of tenacity. But it is wearing, especially when you discover that an editor for whom you've written many articles for in the past has published an article you pitched to them a year ago, that she never followed up about even though interested, and assigned to someone else. Or the promise of follow up to come from a new editorial relationship that just never comes, despite your ideas, your polite contact, their seeming enthusiasm. Or the lack of feedback about pitches, etc. in general. More than a few editors I've worked for in the past have often been indecisive, completely disorganized or end up rewriting the article to the point where there is no recognition of my own work.
It doesn't take long to e-mail "yes", "no" or "maybe" or to be at least semi-responsive. And I'm talking about established relationships between writers and editors, not an answer from the slush pile. It can be difficult enough to sustain and maintain these relationships where often the only contact is via e-mail or the occasional phone call.
If the magazines want good freelance writers and get them, they should learn how to keep them. Considering them "call girls" for hire or assignment and not returning their calls is not a good relationship or business methodology for anyone. Fortunately, I do not derive my sole income from freelance writing. Some would call this predicament not being "hungry" enough for it but I think J.D. Salinger had the right idea after all.
If magazines fail it is not because of the freelancers or the writing staff or the reading public or the internet. It is because magazine editors can be largely an unorganized, ungrateful rude bunch of folks and should court their writers--and photographers--as avidly as they probably do their publishers and advertisers.