In a 20-year freelance writing career I’ve been fortunate to have a series of long term editorial contracts. Some paid fees comparable to real job salaries, others required scraping together a collection of income streams to cover the mortgage and help two kids get through college.
Like death and taxes, another constant is contracts will end. Publishers fold, magazines sadly proclaim their final print issue, relationships end when editors move on, Wall Street crashed the economy, and recessions come and go. Freelance assignments can disappear as fast as the Dow Jones falls. Recovery can take far longer than some segments of the economy.
Experienced freelancers will nod their heads in agreement. Been there, done that. Some survive, some decide to follow a different career path. I can’t imagine a professional life without writing.
Writing requires assignments. Without a contractual relationship, assignments require sending pitches to editors. Herein lies the query conundrum. Do you introduce yourself to a new editor with a short list of topics that if you’ve done your due diligence will elicit a return message? Or do you take the same care crafting a query as you do writing a $2 per word, 1,500-word feature for a national caliber publication?
Acknowledging that a significant number of queries will go unnoticed, you never know which one an editor will decide to read. It’s easy to spend hours exploring topics, refining the narrative and polishing a lede tightly tailored to the magazine’s voice and readership.
Every hour spent on a query is an hour without an income stream. Sure, background work on a query uncovers multiple approaches that can be useful pitching editors who may view that topic from different perspectives. For me, crafting queries is never wasted time. There’s always something to learn and explore. The challenge is making sure that at the end of the day, there’s enough paying assignments in hand to finance a family.
There’s a sense of cautious optimism when I hit send. I’ve done my homework. Searched the publications archive to make sure the topic hasn’t been covered recently. Explore back issues to embrace the magazine’s voice and read the media kit to confirm the pitch complements the editorial calendar and talks to the target audience. Hitting send is simple, waiting for the results is more complicated.
Many queries disappear into the Internet’s cosmos, never to be seen again. Some editors offer encouragement and tease with opportunities. The phrase, “This is good. I’m really busy, I’ll get back to you.” Earlier in my writing journey, the lack of response took an emotional toll. No longer.
After years of pitching, there’s still a visceral thrill in getting an assignment from a new editor. A fist pump and a roll-up my sleeves, let’s get started rush of energy. Pitching is hard and the results are uncertain. But the rush of a new assignment fuels the fire to write one more feature.
That’s the life of a freelance writer.
Onward.