Back in November, I wrote about the Pitch that Time Forgot, an article pitch that I submitted to a magazine that seemed to disappear into the ether. About six months went by and I hadn’t heard back about the fate of my article idea. Long story short – I eventually heard back and got the go-ahead on the article and I was a happy writer.
I researched the article and was ready to start writing when I got a frantic email from my editor, also a freelancer. She told me to stop all work because the entire staff of the magazine had been laid off. She didn’t know the whether the magazine was going under, but I’d be wise to not do any more work on the commissioned piece.
I called the magazine publisher to get to the bottom of the story and to enquire about my Kill Fee, which I had luckily negotiated into my contract (lesson one from this story: always ensure there is a Kill Fee with any commissioned writing!)
It turned out the magazine wasn’t going under, but was now going to be produced entirely by freelancers to cut costs. So, the magazine was alive and so, possibly, was my article.
I contacted the new editor and gave her my pitch over the phone. She was curious and asked for my original query. This was a little frustrating, but if it meant that my article would see the printed page, I was up for it. If she rejected the pitch, I planned to invoice the publisher for my Kill Fee anyway.
About a month later, the new editor accepted the article pitch and I got the go ahead once again.
So, almost a year after I submitted the original pitch and two editors later, it seems I am to write my little article after all. At the end of the day, the money vs time spent on this pitch won’t work out in my favour. But in my opinion, it’s much better than if the article idea never got printed in the first place. I will receive some compensation for my time and effort (also this is my first piece with the magazine, which could lead to more.)
Moral of the story: the obvious one is if you’ve taken the time to write a pitch and send it off, make sure that you get paid for it eventually! Less obvious moral? Writing is the easy part of a writer’s job. Selling your work is the hard part.
On that note, I’m off wrap up the year-long saga and actually write the darn article!
