I'd definitely write "on spec" (that is, unsolicited stuff) -- but only after getting a real handle on the kind of publication you're writing for. If possible, get a few copies of it and read them a couple times each.
The difference between a managing editor and an associate editor? That's a tough one.
Editor or Editor in Chief is usually top of the food chain.
A Managing Editor, in my experience, is someone who supervises a group, like a "beat" on a daily newspaper or the photo desk or writing desk at the pub I work for.
An Associate Editor can be someone immediately below a managing editor or the editor in chief -- at the Enquirer, my dad was called an "associate editor" because he had a team of reporters who he immediately supervised/gave leads to, etc. But basically he was just a fancy reporter. The managing editor was second in command, running the paper a little more directly than the e-i-c (who, in those days, was also the publisher).
With news tabloids, it varies. A "downpage" or small story will get you between $50 and $200. Page leads in "newsier" papers will get more, and cover stories will get $350 and up.
But the real money is in photographs.
Magazines probably pay more per article, because they're longer and because - at least with feature stories - individual writing style comes more into play.
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It's a realistic way to get by, but it involves on personal connections with at least one but usually three or four different "markets". The hustling is what kills me - you have to *always* be trying to exploit markets, *always* looking for stories, *always* looking for a way to sell the same story "exclusively."
Resales are the best way to make money, and if you can offer "exclusively" in a particular country or region, you make the editor happy. There are syndicates and agencies which can work for you, but in general my experience isn't all that great with them -- my dad (who's been freelancing since the mid-70s) has had a couple agencies who brought in lots of unexpected money, and a few who simply sold stories overseas and never told him. He'd simply chance into a story he wrote in some magazine translated into Norwegian or German without ever having the first idea it had been sold there (and without getting any $$ for it).
Sometimes this would happen with the same agencies.
So, the business involves lots of selling things and lots of organizing things.
But it can be good, too. |
