Monday, July 30, 2018

How To Be Your Editor's Favorite Freelancer

Kathleen gave me permission to publish her article as a guest blog. Her advice is invaluable.

How To Be Your Editor's Favorite Freelancer
(c) by Kathleen Sharp

There's no secret, really. It alls boils down to one precept: editors are people, too. People with jobs. And as a freelance writer, what you do is part of their job.  Editors have bosses, deadlines and deliverables. An editor's boss does not care WHO is or is not delivering on time. The editor's boss will hold the editor personally responsible for any and all failures of production. Yours included.

To become an editor's favorite freelancer:

1.) Turn in assignments early. One day is good; two is better.
As it creeps closer to deadline, editors begin to wonder, how is my freelancer doing? I wonder if she conducted her interviews yet? Do you suppose she got all those people to return her calls? I wonder how long her story is?

By deadline day your editor is a nervous wreck unless he or she was wise enough to give you a false deadline. Put your editor out of his misery, turn the story in early.

2.) Stay in touch.
When my staff reporter is doing a story, I can walk out to the newsroom floor anytime I want, grab him by the collar and bark, "Pieper, how's that story coming?"  When I do that (this is my favorite part) he HAS to answer.

I like my freelancers to be proactive about communication. This is especially important when you are new to the editor, if you have ever let her down in the past, if the story is particularly long and complex, or if the deadline was longer than one production cycle. But editors are busy, too. Personally, I hate freelancers who need me to spend lots of time telling them what great writers they are. All I want is a quick status. A brief email will do. Like this:

"Hi. Thanks for the assignment. This morning I called the school district and left a message for the superintendent to call me."

"Hi. Just wanted to let you know the school superintendent called me back. I got the interview. The story looks like it might be as long as 1500 words. Have a nice day."

"Hi. Had a great interview with the superintendent yesterday. He thinks I should interview the district CFO. I have an appointment later today."

"Hi. The CFO was full of useful information. He has a color chart. Would you like to use it for art?"

"Hi. I know this is early, but my story is all done. I will drop by later today with the chart. Have a nice day."

3.) Read the editor's mind.
Seriously. The editor has some idea of what he wants from this article. He may -- or he may not -- share that with you. If he does not, you can coax it out of him with a few questions: What's my deadline, how long should the story be, do you want art, is there anyone in particular you want me to interview, do you have any background on this that you'd like to share?

If he answers all that, you will have read his mind.

4.) Don't deliver surprises.
Editors hate surprises. A good editor is, by definition, a control freak. Turn in the story you promised at approximately the length you promised by deadline or sooner. If something happens midway that will change the focus, scope, length or timing of the article, tell the editor as soon as possible and negotiate a new focus, length or deadline.

Last week one of my favorite freelancers called me 5 minutes before deadline to say she did not get the story. Had done nothing on it, in fact. No interviews, nothing. She knew, and I knew, and she knew I knew that she knew days ago that she was going to be late. Still, she waited until 5 minutes before deadline to tell me. So I had 5 minutes to find a 15-inch story to plug into the giant hole she left on my front page. Hey, thanks Robyn! You know that series you were going to do on the VFW? Never mind.

That's it. Four steps. Do them consistently, and --assuming you have also done your best on the article itself -- you can win a priority spot on any editor's contacts list.###

NOTE: All of the above applies only to ethical editors. Unscrupulous editors (and there are many) are low-lying snake in the grass rodents who deserve to be trampled.

My apologies to rodents everywhere ~~ KS
END
 
Kathleen Sharp
 

Kathleen is a former managing editor of a newspaper. She now writes and edits for corporate clients, and is one of the adminstrators on Internet Writing Workshop.

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