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Topic: Julia Kagan, Ladies Home Journal
| Author | Message |
| justthefactsman | Posted – 12/6/2007 7:03:15 PM | show profile Does anyone know if Julia Kagan is still at the Ladies Home Journal? |
| jlkagan | Posted – 12/7/2007 3:57:54 PM | show profile Julia Kagan, Ladies' Home Journal I am still at Ladies' Home Journal. |
| seeattleme | Posted – 12/7/2007 4:34:42 PM | show profile I for one saw the name on the masthead, duh. |
| astrahook | Posted – 12/7/2007 5:00:52 PM | show profile then start responding to emails, someone is obviously trying to get a hold of you |
| seeattleme | Posted – 12/7/2007 6:43:13 PM | show profile Hah! Touche. Then again...Why work with an editor who won't respond to emails, she wonders aloud. |
| SPF 30 | Posted – 12/7/2007 8:46:24 PM | show profile Do you all realize how many email messages editors receive each day? I got 93 today. No joke. |
| Newsy | Posted – 12/8/2007 10:51:11 AM | show profile Hey! Ms. Kagan -- I've been trying to get ahold of you too. I have some queries I think would be perfect for LHJ. |
| seeattleme | Posted – 12/8/2007 1:41:22 PM | show profile I got 105 emails today. Many of them were about penile enlargement, but still... |
| InsomniacNOT | Posted – 12/8/2007 2:10:02 PM | show profile If your queries are unsolicited, you really aren't entitled to an answer. As well, there is no indication that the IP had sent e-mails which were not answered. |
| questoo1 | Posted – 12/8/2007 5:22:07 PM | show profile it would tie in nicely though to the several hundred threads about people who apply to jobs and get no response. I smell a story...hey Julia, whats that email again? |
| Canadiana | Posted – 12/8/2007 9:28:05 PM | show profile I'm still somewhat new at this (queries that is...) but if unsolicited queries aren't entitled to an answer then, why bother???? |
| lenagrove | Posted – 12/8/2007 10:18:26 PM | show profile Name on the masthead doesn't mean they're still there--it means they worked on that issue, which was completed months before. My favorite editor left her magazine over three months ago, but her name is on the current issue's masthead. I say all this just to make the original poster feel a little better...it's not an insane question or anything. BTW, I think it is way cool of Julia Kagan to respond to a post about herself. Pretty funny. |
| kaceclosed | Posted – 12/9/2007 1:12:06 AM | show profile Basically, I am an (assoc) ed at a nat'l mag and I do work as a freelancer as well, so I'm on both sides of the fence. And, in my freelancing, I mention my clips, but if I don't hear back within 7-10 days, I begin pitching somewhere else, esp if it's with an ed I don't know/haven't worked with. Basically, if you have a good idea, editors will bite. If it's been done before or they are concerned about your expertise/experience, they may send you a polite no, but I get a TON of queries in my inbox, and a lot of the times, I don't respond. I don't mean to, because I do feel the pain and understand, but if it's the wrong type of pitch/seems too generic/even if I read it at the wrong time of day, I might forget about it. My tips, from both sides of the fence. 1. if you really believe in the article, feel free to follow up 1 more time. It's more than possible they just haven't read it. 2. Name game. Try to find SOMEONE who will vouch for your work. If you can say, oh TK at TK PUBLICATION recommended I contact you, then the editor knows you are more than just a shot in the dark. 3. Clips ARE important and try to tailor your clips to the piece you are pitching. If you are pitching a travel story, don't send me your quiz clips from teen magazines. If you are pitching a personal essay, don't send your ABC's of skin cancer clip. Basically, pitch what you've written. Even if the personal essay was in a reg'l clip and the skin cancer piece was in a nat'l magazine, send me what will show you're the best person for the job. Or, include that PLUS your nat'l clip. 4. If you were "published" because you wrote a letter to the editor (known to happen!) do not include in your clips. Again, this is just what I have learned and observed. EVeryone is right--editors DO get a TON of e-mails, and please don't castigate anyone because they haven't responded. Instead, use your experience pitching and tailor it to a different publication--one writer told me she always has an A, B and C list for pitches--A being a mag/paper she'd LOVE to write to, that she pitches to first, B being 2/3 mags that are a 50/50 shot, and C being an almost definite--even for no pay. I find this a great triangle to work towards in pitching--again, good luck. |
| InsomniacNOT | Posted – 12/9/2007 9:01:37 AM | show profile Canadiana, do you feel obliged to listen to the pitch of every telephone solicitor who phones you up? Unsolicited = unsolicited = no obligations Consider it a bonus if you get a reply. And if you really believe in your pitch, follow up and do everything you can to get an answer. Just don't expect you have the right to receive one. I think the best philosophy for everyone who plays the heartless game of pitching is always to remember, "It's not all about me." |
| seeattleme | Posted – 12/9/2007 2:40:37 PM | show profile It's unprofessional to to reply to correspondance. That's in every seven minute mnanager book out there. Emails, phone calls, whathaveuou. You should respond. It takes two seconds to type a quick, "not for us, but thanks" on a rply email. Email makes it easier than ever. Yes, it may be what's done. It may be "reality". That doesn't make it right. It's unprofessional. BTW, i've found that the top notch editors at top notch pubs (New Yorker, NY Times, Wash POst, LA Times, NY Times Mag) all reply to my emails and queries. Some are very nice replies. Some are just your standard one or two liners. But they are always responded to, including submissions for Modern Love, Lives, and Talk of the Town. It's the unprofessional editors who don't respond. And let's make the point here , Ladies Home Journal might want to consider pitches from some new names. It's the new names that have the new ideas, (instead of friends and colleagues from the dinosaur era over and over again). And let's face it: LHJ could use some, eh, freshness. |
| seeattleme | Posted – 12/9/2007 2:41:44 PM | show profile I meant it's unprofessional NOT to reply to correspondence. |
| SPF 30 | Posted – 12/9/2007 6:47:02 PM | show profile LOL...we all know how you feel about the women's magazines, GraniteGirl. |
| InsomniacNOT | Posted – 12/9/2007 7:10:14 PM | show profile Well, I wish I could say that I'd noticed a high correlation between editors who reply to every off-the-wall e-mail that lands in their in-box and editors who discover new writers and run the best stories, but alas I have not. Sometimes, great editors aren't the most organized or forget to reply or -- believe it or not, make it a policy not to waste time replying to every lame query that crosses the transom. I mean really, look at the attack launched on Julia Kagan without her doing anything. It's only a guess, after all, that she didn't reply to an e-mail. And yet it has various posters frothing at the mouth. It's a perfect illustration of why sometimes people choose not to respond to e-mail. And why I should choose to discontinue my participation in this thread. |
| flight risk | Posted – 12/9/2007 7:58:16 PM | show profile Granitegirl, I'm sure those editors you mention, which I've also worked for, have snubbed plenty of writers. The fact they respond to your queries has no bearing on their professionalism. It has more to do with a well targeted pitch from a qualified writer with good clips. |
| Canadiana | Posted – 12/9/2007 10:46:27 PM | show profile In regard to the comment about listening to telemarketers' pitches: 1) Generic phone calls about XYZ are a totally different animal. 2) Yes, I'm at least polite to telemarkers and say, "no thank you" if I'm not interested. We're all human beings here. |
| flight risk | Posted – 12/10/2007 2:09:39 PM | show profile But do you get 50 to 100 telemarketing calls a day? Imagine how much time it would take to listen to each one in total and respond. |
| justthefactsman | Posted – 12/11/2007 8:12:31 PM | show profile I've met Ms. Kagan before and she's quite pleasant. Thank you all for your assistance. |
