Tribute to the trenches
It happens less often than it ought to: an editor of a major magazine paying tribute to one of his senior editors. In the June issue of Report on Business magazine, Editor Laas Turnbull devotes his Editor's Desk column (sorry, can't find a link) to celebrating the skill, insight and sensitivity that one of his senior editors, Ted Mumford, brings to his job. (And so he should, as he notes Mumford handled all four feature stories in the issue, three of which came late in the production schedule.)
"Most editors ae doomed to toil in obscurity," says Turbull. That's the nature of the job -- to make others look good, or at least as good as they can be. Ted fits the mould to a tee."
It's a nice tribute and, in this season of awards, this kind of public recognition is about the best that a mid-level guy in editorial can expect, since the prizes tend to be handed out (quite correctly) to the writers.
Some writers can't stand some editors, thinking them high handed and trying to write the article themselve by remote control. Other writers love some editors, whose light touch and empathy helps them do their best work. The writer-editor relationship is not often talked about. In the last couple of years, David Hayes has given an illuminating chat to the Magazines Canada School for Professional Publishing about the tension and torsion that characterizes it.
UPDATE: I understand that there is to be a session at Magazines University next week in which a panel including Hayes and John Degen, the executive director of the Professional Writers Association of Canada may get into this issue.
"Most editors ae doomed to toil in obscurity," says Turbull. That's the nature of the job -- to make others look good, or at least as good as they can be. Ted fits the mould to a tee."
It's a nice tribute and, in this season of awards, this kind of public recognition is about the best that a mid-level guy in editorial can expect, since the prizes tend to be handed out (quite correctly) to the writers.
Some writers can't stand some editors, thinking them high handed and trying to write the article themselve by remote control. Other writers love some editors, whose light touch and empathy helps them do their best work. The writer-editor relationship is not often talked about. In the last couple of years, David Hayes has given an illuminating chat to the Magazines Canada School for Professional Publishing about the tension and torsion that characterizes it.
UPDATE: I understand that there is to be a session at Magazines University next week in which a panel including Hayes and John Degen, the executive director of the Professional Writers Association of Canada may get into this issue.
posted by D. B. Scott at
8:06 am
8 Comments:
Your readers might be interested in an excellent forum at www.testycopyeditors.org where the official motto is "One of the great things about being a copy editor is freedom from vulgar desire for public recognition." The unofficial motto seems to be "If it's crap, just change it." OK, it is sometimes a little too tesy for sensitive writers, but those of us who write and edit for a living can learn a lot. It's newspaper-centric, but touches on PR and magazine copy.
Unfortunately, much of the discussion on this subject turns to how little writers get paid. I was dissapointed with the Mags U seminar last year on the writer/editor relationship (incidentally, with David Hayes on the panel), which did exactly that. We know writers should be paid more. We also know that most handling editors don't control how much they can pay. More useful would have been a discussion with tips on editing experts (ie amateurs), cut-and-rewrite editors, good writers who drop the ball on one assignment, and fostering a good relationship all around. Mags U planners, please take note.
I think it's well understood that handling editors don't set the fees that writers are paid. It is no longer enough to say that writers should be paid more but then do nothing about it. The data confirms what we know, but is a precursor to a real crisis in this business as there are fewer and fewer one-draft writers available.
We have to find a way to connect those who set the budgets with writers' groups. Many of us at editorial desks would love to pay writers more. The reality is publishers or senior accountants set our budgets and we haven't seen per-page budgets increase much over the years. Asking for more funds doesn't usually work without presenting a business case that shows increases to the bottom line. Meanwhile those with the clout to set their prices do, so we pay more for stock photography and other expenses. We can either pay writers less or do more writing in house (and thus hire fewer writers). I would love for a writers' group or representative to develop a business case for increases in writers' fee and present them to the major publishers.
I have been a freelance writer in the past and am a freelance writer now and have been a salaried editor for much of my career. At the risk if incurring wrath for blaming the victim, I will say that in my experience as an editor, writers generally have not been good at invoicing promptly or at following up on the invoice. Many have told me they are not comfortable asking for money. I have suggested to them that they are runnning a business whether they like it or not, and that I learned early on the business axiom "If you don't ask, generally you don't get." Therefore, I always ask (ie: send an invoice) promptly, and I follow up quickly to make sure that the information in the invoice is sufficient to ensure smooth administration. I experienced slow payment once, but when I followed up, I successfully obtained payment for my writing. This is a long-winded way of saying freelancers need a better understanding of their reponsibilities as a businessperson.
I've certainly been guilty on the late-invoicing front myself, and I think Tom makes a fair point. But I think it's also important to note that keeping up with invoicing and collections is damn hard when you're already working 50 hours a week on pitching and writing just to get by. People say that this is a business, but it's unlike most other businesses in that we aren't able to charge fees that offset our administrative time costs.
It actually is like most other businesses. Very few actually get to charge a fee up front for administration, and those that do usually generate negative feelings from their customers. Instead, what most businesses do is, justifiably, build admin fees into their charges. You know the retail price of widgets is higher than wholesale, because the widget seller also has a shipper/receiver, a bookkeeper and who knows how many other non-revenue generating employees on the payroll. They also have to pay a cost for infrastructure and overhead, but you don't see that cost mentioned in the bill. Freelancers can and should do the same (ie: add realistic administrative fees into ther rates). I do, and I make no apology for it. If a client comments on my fee request, I let them know that I am running a business and that I am responsible for my share of income tax and CPP and that I also have admin costs. Freelancers obviously cannot bill for eight hours a day five days a week, so they must charge an appropriate amount for their work that will leave them with some room to cover the non-billable hours of work they must do necessarily. (I read somewhere that freelancers should charge double what they actually need to live in order to cover the extra costs and the unbillable hours). I have found that when the argument is put before them, clients (including editors and their administrative paymasters) understand this. You don't always get your preferred rate, but then most businesses have some room for negotiation in their price. And I'm sorry, it might be damn hard keeping up with admin on top of a long work week, but I have been on the ground floor of more than one small business, and it's rare that any businessperson puts in 40 hours a week, charges extra for all admin costs, and gets to vacation in Hawaii every year. Sadly, business just doesn't work that way. By the way, my comment about "don't ask, don't get" also goes for rates. If you don't ask for a higher per-word rate, you will almost always be paid at a lower rate. This seems ridiculously obvious when stated in print, but it's true and it's worth reminding yourself on a regular basis.
"It's unlike most other businesses in that we aren't able to charge fees that offset our administrative time costs." Sorry, what I meant by this is that freelancers don't have an easy way to build admin charges into their fees. I've asked for, and received, extra payment for my work on occasion, but most of the time it's a polite "sorry, but our going rate is x." I have a feeling my experience here isn't unusual. Also, I think Tom's comparison to other types of small business misses the point. Starting any business is hard, of course, but people in other sectors can reasonably expect to do well if they're reasonably lucky, talented and persistent. Several of my friends are younger freelance graphic/web designers, and they pull in, on average, about $60 to $70k per year (much more than that, in a couple of cases). Is that because designers are intuitive masters of invoicing/admin/negotiation? Of course not. It's because they're in a normal, healthy field of work.
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