From: schwarz-marc@CS.YALE.EDU (Marc Schwarz)
Subject: Re: You really want to be a writer?
Organization: Yale University Computer Science Dept., New Haven, CT 06520-2158
Distribution: na
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1992 17:03:14 GMT

tmaddox@milton.u.washington.edu (Tom Maddox) writes:

> Which is why *my* principle has been, write well and the business end 
> will largely take care of itself.

Sounds as if you have never spent much time in a newsroom.
In this environment, it is presumed that you (and everyone
around you) write reasonably well.  Advancement is largely
based on how many of your assignments actually make it into
the paper. Editors always assign more stories than for which  
there is space.  Making the cut is very often a matter of convincing
your editor that your lead is more timely and more important
to the reader today (and that the other guy's stuff will be just as
timely, TOMORROW, for next issue).  A much easier route is to
convince the editor to give you the choice leads over the other guy
in the first place.  Freelancers tend to get the better assignments
once they have built up a portfolio, AND a steady working/business
relation with the editors.  You could be Walter Lippman reincarnate,
if you don't know how to get along with the editors (and push their
buttons, as appropriate) you might possibly end up the world's most
talented obit writer.  Editors usually will not fire a freelancer.
Instead, editors will simply start assigning you the less than desirable 
stories.  It is the editor's hope that you will either choose to leave
of your own volition, or recognize the signal that a business superior
wants you to change something you are doing.  I may be giving editors too
much credit here, as most of them will simply hope that you go away,
sooner, rather than later.

Once a story actually runs, the next important hurdle is to make
sure that the paper actually pays you for the assignment.  If you
are a salaried staffer, no problem.  If you are a freelancer who
submitted the story on-spec, knowing the ropes will make securing
your pay a lot easier.  In one particular case, I was working as a
bureau editor for a computer trade paper, on a freelance basis.  The
paper had not paid me in three months, and I was filing a page one
story, and a gatefold story on deadline (about 14 pages of copy, single
spaced, ~220 inches).  As I walk into the office, I bump into the 
publisher.  He says he hopes the copy is good, because there won't
be much time to make changes.  I ask why I haven't been paid in three
months.  He says something like it was a simple oversight.  I tell him
that I won't file until I have received all back pay, and payment for
the 220 inches of copy up front.  He threatens to fire me, and demands
the copy.  I reply that he can go ahead and fire me, adding that if I
walk he now has to fill a 200 inch hole in the middle of his paper, on
deadline.  I snidely say that it shouldn't be too difficult, and suggest
that canceling about a third of the issue's advertising contracts would
probably do the trick.  His jaw drops slightly, and after a brief pause
he asks me to wait while he meets with my editor.  Within ten minutes
I have my back pay.  The publisher and my editor then ask to proof my 
copy before they pay me up front.  I agree and file.  About a half hour
later, my editor returns with my check.  He says that the copy looked
good, aside from my trademarked profusion of spelling errors.  The 
publisher liked the copy as well, and my editor was able to convince
him to give me a pay raise. 

So, while the business aspect might take care of itself, learning
to be your own agent (until you can get a real one) will make writing
much more efficient, and profitable.

Marc.
-=-
schwarz@cs.yale.edu
AKA: schwarz@spunky.cs.nyu.edu