Help Desk 6.23.05: Pulling Double Duty
I got not one but two good questions today, so I thought I’d answer both.
Q: Let’s say you regularly freelance for one publication and have built up a relationship with your editor. Do you think the editor would be offended/pissed off if you did some freelance work for a competing publication? Of course, you would not be “recycling” content…
A: “Yes, the editor would probably get really pissed off, but it can vary from editor to editor what is and what is not considered competition. For example, I’ve heard that Women’s Day only cares that you don’d write for Family Circle, they aren’t so uptight about Good Housekeeping,” says a full-time freelancer I spoke with. “A magazine can’t legally constrain you though from pitching the competition (which is why freelancers are sometimes brought on as contributing editors, so they then can’t write for the competition.)” Most often, you won’t even have that option, though. “If you send clips to a magazine and they see that you’ve written for the competition, they probably won’t even use you.” It all comes down to how much you value your relationship with your editor. “If you value your relationship with the first editor, then don’t chance it. But if you only write for them occasionally and don’t care about building up a long-term relationship with the publication, then it’s not like they’re going to hunt you down and yell at you if and when they find out you wrote for the competition. The question is, how big a work hole will you have if you get caught? It’s about how much you value that client’s relationship.” But if it comes down to two competiting publications interested in your work, you can always say to yourself, “Start the bidding!”
Q: How do you pitch a new Mediabistro “How to Pitch“?
A: I went to the editors for this one. “When you find a publication you’d like to do a How to Pitch on, describe the publication, who you’d like to interview there, and email the pitch to me,” says EIC Elizabeth Spiers. Along with your pitch, “Clips are nice, but aren’t a dealbreaker,” according to Deputy Editor Jill Singer, who has edited and written many an HTP. Just do your homework. “Potential pitchees should check the site to make sure we haven’t already done a how to pitch for the publication,” says Spiers.
“They can always email a list of mags they’re interested in, too, and we’ll say if we like any of them,” says Singer. “Try to shoot for pubs that are at least $1 a word. If the pay is less, then the publication should have some sort of cachet (Like, say, The New York Times). If it’s less than $.50/word, you’ll have to do some pretty hard selling about why we should feature it.”
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