You Ask, I Answer: Is This a Bad Time to Be a Writer?
I answer your burning freelancing questions on the blog. If you have a question, e-mail it to me at lindaformichelli@gmail.com. Have a lot of questions? Consider signing up for a phone mentoring session.
Kim asks: My question has to do with the state of the magazine market now compared with a few years ago. I heard there are fewer magazines: are they hiring fewer freelancers? And with everyone and their grandmothers attempting/pretending to be writers due to lack of jobs with the economy, how do we deal with everyone paying freelancers less now because these people are flooding the market?
Let me address your concerns one at a time.
The Bad News: Magazines are folding.
The Good News: There are plenty more where those came from.
When writers bemoan the state of the magazine industry, they seem to be considering mostly newsstand magazines. But there are literally hundreds, even thousands, of paying markets that are not on the newsstands: Trade magazines, custom publications, alumni magazines, association magazines, and more. I make my living writing mostly for custom pubs and trades these days, for reasons I explained in this post.
Throughout my career, I’ve lost many clients due to magazines going belly-up. But every time I’ve lost a client, I’ve been able to find another one to replace it.
Finally, as Jennifer Lawler talks about in this guest post, we writers always do better if we diversify. I’m sure there aren’t many writers out there who make 100% of their income from magazine writing and are able to pay their bills that way. Most of my income comes from magazines (and websites), but I top off my bank account with copywriting, writing books, teaching e-courses, and even doing copyediting for one client. If you don’t rely solely on magazines for your income, the state of the magazine industry won’t impact you as much.
The Bad News: Many markets pay ridiculous rates like $4 per article.
The Good News: That doesn’t affect professional writers.
As I said in this post, “Markets that pay $1, $2, and more per word are not going to start offering $4 per article ‘just because they can,’ because they can see from these content mills the kind of quality that payrate buys. It’s like saying that McDonald’s grill-jockeys are depressing the rates for master chefs.” There are plenty of markets out there that pay decent rates, but many writers are too lazy or too inexperienced to find them and work to break into them. And some writers just prefer the easy way out of writing $4 articles that they can find as easily as clicking on Craigslist. For the rest of us, there are lots of good markets to go around.
The Bad News: Thanks to the Internet, everyone and their brother finds it easy to deluge markets with pitches.
The Good News: When editors find a professional, skilled writer, they usually stick with her.
It’s more difficult to break in these days than it was when I started 14 years ago, and I believe it’s because the Internet makes it so easy for any wannabe writer to fire off dozens of crappy pitches — which makes it harder for professional, skilled writers to stand out.
But truly great pitches do stand out, and once you do get in the door and wow an editor with your writing and professionalism, she’s likely to stick with you. An editor would rather stay with a tried-and-true great writer than risk her job by taking a chance on someone who may not come through (which is probably 90% of the writers out there, according to one newsstand magazine editor I talked with). This works against you when you’re pitching, but for you once you break in. (And if you’re good, you will break in.)
Now, I have had the experience of an editor who previously loved me suddenly not returning my e-mails — but that’s the rare exception. In general, I have a core group of clients I write for over and over again.
So that’s my take. Now, don’t accuse me of having my head in the sand. I know these are tumultuous times for writers, and I understand that the industry as we know it may not exist several years from now. That’s why I love this blog post from Carol Tice over at the Make a Living Writing blog, where she insists that “There has never, ever been a better time to be a writer.” She has a great attitude that I think we can all learn from. [lf]
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Mar 24, 2011 Advice, Magazines, Motivation, Observations, You Ask, We Answer
Great post. You cover a lot of territory very succinctly. Thanks!
Thanks, I’m glad you liked it!
Linda, as always, a great post and very true. There’s still room for new writers and I’m proof of that. I’ve only been doing this full-time for a little over a year but there are a few key things that have helped me:
1. Like Linda said – diversify your clients. I write for consumer and trade mags, and the other half is doing local news coverage. The local news doesn’t pay the greatest, but I find that stories from one market spawn stories for the other. And, doing local news, you meet lots of people… and people have stories. I’m at a point now where I’m jumping into web markets and ghosting.
2. Give each initial query 100 percent. I’m not a particularly fast writer and I tend to over research, so I’ve been known to spend a few days on my initial queries to the larger markets. For me, it works because…
3. Once you break in and turn in an awesome article (and you WILL do that, right?) it becomes easier to sell your next idea to them, or at last have them entertain it or come back to you with their own ideas. With some of my clients, now I can just write them a quick e-mail to give them a general idea of what I want to do, and they’ll either approve the idea or ask me a couple of specific questions (which I can then research or answer on the spot before getting the assignment.) The idea still has to be suitable and I have to know what I’m talking about, but I’m not spending days trying to make sure it’s a perfect pitch and that they view me as a professional. They already know that from working with me.
4. Remember that it’s all about the people – your mentors, clients, editors, sources, colleagues, everyone. If you reach out and someone helps you, thanks them then find a way to pay them back. If a source mentions that it’s their birthday next week or that their Uncle Bob died a year ago next Tuesday, remember that and then write them a little note. Pay attention to the small details, be genuine and care. Again, it’s all about the people.
5. Never stop learning from those around you who are successful (a shameless plug for Linda and her group of friends.) But it’s soooooo true. Check your ego at the door, listen, and see if their techniques work for you.
There’s more, but I’d say those were the big ones, especially when I was just starting out only a few short months ago.
T.
Tony, wonderful advice…thanks! You’re kicking butt right out of the gate because you pay attention to all those details.
Linda, I agree – it’s a great time to become a writer! Finding a unique market niche based on your particular knowledge basis and being persistent is key.
Yes, especially the persistence part. Too many writers give up before they even had a chance to get started.
A second income in the household is also helpful.
Star, are you telling Linda that she should stop being the main breadwinner for her family?
In all seriousness, I find that those who are motivated by a love of their craft or a true passion to be successful independently in their field do just fine in any economy, and with any domestic set up. As is mentioned in a few different ways in this post, quality and dependability are what sets apart the top producers in any category. When the Yugo came on the scene, did Lamborghini owners rush out to get one to save a buck? I know several photographers and writers who, without a partner bankrolling them, are absolutely thriving.
As far as the proliferance of “cheap” writers, I think of it this way: Wal Mart is everywhere. If you live in a town where there is only Wal Mart, you’re probably pretty sick of it and you will be delighted to visit another area and buy premium products where upscale shopping exists. Editors will also pay for premium work even when discount writers are as ubiquitous as Wal Mart.
I said what I think, Daisha–this has nothing to do with Linda’s situation. I have been the only breadwinner for 32 yrs, doing all this. I say it helps to have a second income, part of that “diversification,” multiple revenue streams idea–this is a “changing” profession, unpredictable, and in my opinion, downward trending, we they like to say. Apparently, no one has cut their rates after you have written for them for years. You have no problem finding well-capitalized pubs and websites that will always be there. More power to you. Maybe this is not everyone’s experience, though. So it helps to have another income.
Linda – Great post!
I am wondering if a writer who is interested in specializing in one topic area (food and nutrition, for example)can benefit from pursuing those other markets you mention (custom publications, trade magazines). Can a writer make a good part of their income from those other markets writing only food and nutrition content?
Thanks!
I feel there is always a place for good writers. No matter how much you flood the market with freelancers, a good writer stands out of the pack. I would like to ask one question though. How to find a good publisher . I mean a site who wishes to buy your online writing. Please do reply.
Great post! It gives me hope that I will find ways to make money. I believe as writers it is easy to limit ourselves. The ideas are there if we open our minds to the possibilities.
I also recommend recasting and reselling interesting subjects. Have you written about blueberries as a super food, for example? Pitch blueberries as homemade baby food to a baby or working mom pub. Blueberries as a diet food to Weight Watchers. Blueberries as the new agricultural success story to a biz mag. The blueberry king’s story to his alum mag. You see where I am going with this.
just updated my ebook about getting published in parenting markets … only had 8 deletions from last year and added over 25. plus online markets means writers should be going strong! true, linda, about persisting … it takes time.
I found this to be a great, informative post. Just for jargon like custom pubs. To write these days you’ve got to discern who audience is but on the same token you cannot leave anybody out. You never know when and where you might reel-in a project.
Sometimes I think writers focus too much on “Focus” and worry that they aren’t zeroed into a particular niche, but it’s okay to have many interest. Many interests can lead to many markets as long as you are pitching the accordingly.