Dropping In On Editors
I visit my editors once or twice a year, and the payoffs have been great. Editors love being able to put a face with a name, and I’ve even become friends with a few of my editors because we bonded during a visit.
I’m lucky that I live a few hours’ drive from New York City, so I can meet my editors on the cheap; in fact, my parents live just 1.5 hours from NYC so I don’t even need a hotel room. But just think: Even if you live across the country, if you get one big article assignment from your trip, it will cover your expenses. In addition, a business trip is tax-deductible. Save even more by staying with a friend instead of at a hotel, using a service like Priceline to get the best hotel deals, and traveling during off-peak times.
And don’t think you have to go to New York to visit your editors…many magazines are based in other cities, and chances are there are one or two within driving distance of you. Or, when you make a trip anywhere for any reason, check to see if any of your editors are in that area. For example, when I went to Chicago for a writer’s conference in the summer of 2006, I visited my editor at a custom pub, who took me around to meet all the other editors. I also had lunch with an editor at a magazine I’ve been writing for for ten years.
If you think you can manage a visit to meet your editors, start contacting them well in advance — at least a month — so they can try to carve some time out of their work schedules. Offer to buy them coffee, dress in “business casual,” and don’t pitch ideas unless they ask you to (you should have some ideas ready just in case). Just chat and get to know your editors and show them what a wonderful person you are.
Bon voyage! [lf]
Linda, great timing for this post! With the ASJA conference just behind us — it was in NYC this past weekend — I know a lot of freelancers probably visited editors last Friday or yesterday. I did — I had a very nice lunch with a new-to-me editor yesterday, then took the fast train home to Boston. While the conference was worthwhile, the visit with the editor was even more so, and I’m on track for my first assignment with this national magazine. Editors do love to get out of the office and they often don’t have an excuse, so be their excuse for them. Anybody out there who visited with editors last week or yesterday? I’d love to hear your stories!
Elaine Grant
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