From paper to mag -- advice?

Groundout · **Posted:** Tue May 01, 2007 11:22 pm

Anyone care to expound on the switch? I'm considering it. On a midsize daily news desk now; might have chance to switch to a monthly. One of those regional glossies, with at least some track record of producing meaty stories. I've done plenty of freelance writing/editing at such places, but have no idea of the daily workflow, pay, treatment, etc. Not sure what the duties would be yet -- it's a nascent conversation with an editor at the mag. Any advice, pitfalls to avoid, perks to haggle for would be welcome. (Telecommuting is already No. 1 on my list).

Thanks!

Wayne Countryman · **Posted:** Wed May 02, 2007 3:45 am

Approach it as you would a newspaper:

1. What would my responsibilities be?
2. What are my hours? How many? How consistent?
3. OT pay?
4. Possibility for advancement?
5. Possibility for pay raises?
6. Benefits?
7. Possibility of telecommuting?
8. Online duties? How might these change if the publication increases its online presence? Will online become a bigger aspect of the publication?
9. Would you work on more than one publication? (It's common for companies to publish more than one magazine.)
10. Travel?
11. To whom would you report?
12. etc.

Don't assume anything. Ask.

And, something I failed to do when I made the switch: Try to observe a workday. Staff members might join the top boss in prevarication if they're eager to get someone hired.

Magazines can differ from each other as much as papers do, so generalizing won't serve you well. Try to talk to staff members candidly.

Something to look for: No matter how far apart a magazine's deadlines are, those entrenched are likely to procrastinate so that a monthly publication has a crush resembling a daily paper's.

lfelaco · **Posted:** Wed May 02, 2007 12:52 pm

Wayne Countryman wrote:

No matter how far apart a magazine's deadlines are, those entrenched are likely to procrastinate so that a monthly publication has a crush resembling a daily paper's.

I've heard more than one person who's left here for a monthly or even every-other-monthly lament that an entire issue gets done in a two-week period at most.

magman · **Posted:** Wed May 02, 2007 1:46 pm

The odds are good that each month will work as follows. First there will be lazy week. Then there will be a fairly lazy week. Then it gets busy for a week. Then it gets crazy and busy till the damn thing is pushed out the door.

You''ll have time on many stories to do a thoughtful edit that'll make you proud. But you'll be rushed like mad at the finish line and won't feel so comfortable then about your work.

You'll enjoy the three weeks, but you'll come to hate the fourth.

Groundout · **Posted:** Wed May 02, 2007 8:36 pm

Thanks for the advice; I like the idea of having lazy weeks instead of crazed rushes every night. Staffing is a real problem at my paper; one person calls out sick and the dominoes start falling.

Those of you who've switched from newspapers: D'you miss the energy, assuming there's a less-crazed pace at the mag? D'you miss not being on breaking news stories? I think I would miss these things, but then again, there are so many frustrating things driving me mad right now that I would hope the trade-off is worth it. But I'm a newspaperman born and bred; close to 30 years in the business. This would be a wrench, I'm sure.

cobra_kai · **Posted:** Wed May 02, 2007 8:57 pm

I have a pretty good workload at the moment, and I fear if I ever moved over to magazines that my best skill - working fast while still being accurate - would be rendered useless and I would get bored.

When I moved from newspapers to a wire service, it was nice that I got extra time to work with copy (I had longed for a more leisurely pace), but I found myself over-editing simply because I wasn't in a rush. If you like that rush and work well in those circumstances, I would suspect you'd be stone-cold bored for three weeks out of every month.

Wayne Countryman · **Posted:** Wed May 02, 2007 11:09 pm

I was at papers for 25 years after working up to 70 hours a week on our university paper. I didn't miss the rush of having slower periods as much as I expected when I switched to magazines. And when something needed to be done fast, that experience made me stand out.

Our magazines didn't exactly have lazy weeks, but everyone would have been better off if more work had been done sooner than later. I kept busy by doing all I could--I loved having time to polish work, check facts and work with writers, photographers and sources.

JeffW · **Posted:** Thu May 03, 2007 2:08 pm

Groundout wrote:

Thanks for the advice; I like the idea of having lazy weeks instead of crazed rushes every night. Staffing is a real problem at my paper; one person calls out sick and the dominoes start falling.

Those of you who've switched from newspapers: D'you miss the energy, assuming there's a less-crazed pace at the mag? D'you miss not being on breaking news stories? I think I would miss these things, but then again, there are so many frustrating things driving me mad right now that I would hope the trade-off is worth it. But I'm a newspaperman born and bred; close to 30 years in the business. This would be a wrench, I'm sure.

I went from a daily paper to a monthly magazine almost 20 years ago, and have since switched from editing magazines to editing books. I can't say I miss the often-crazy atmosphere (especially at deadline), but I can definitely say that my experience at a daily paper made me a much better writer and editor. After facing a daily newspaper deadline, magazine deadlines didn't seem daunting.

None of my magazines had what others have described as "lazy weeks." Although the magazine comes out once a month, there was a deadline of some sort almost every day, and I found the work tended to spread itself out quite evenly over the month. The thing I liked the most about switching from a newspaper to a magazine was that, in my case at least, my hours became fairly normal (roughly 8 to 5, five days a week, instead of 3 or 4 or 5 or 6 p.m. to 1 or 2 a.m., five or six days a week on the sports desk). In fact, it took me a few months to get used to being able to walk out of the office at 5 p.m. and realize that I could do whatever I wanted in the evening.

Groundout · **Posted:** Sat May 05, 2007 5:06 pm

Cobra_kai -- Unfortunately the subject matter here is such that sometimes I'm stone-cold bored at the peak of deadline. That's one of the frustrations I spoke of earlier. (Smaller paper, lots of meetings, not a lot I can do to improve the copy when the starting point is so lacking.)

Thanks everyone. You've given me food for thought and a better perspective than I had.

Groundout · **Posted:** Thu Jun 07, 2007 3:02 pm

Update: Went for an interview, all went well -- it seems like the position (managing editor) would involve running the place while the editor handles the social aspects and hand-holds the major pieces only. Get this: For all that work the pay was $50k. In the Northeast, mind you. I think my face fell off.

Anyway....sigh....back to the grind.

Wayne Countryman · **Posted:** Fri Jun 08, 2007 4:28 am

Perhaps we should have warned you that most magazines won't pay as well as, say, many fair-sized papers.

Testy Copy Editors

From paper to mag -- advice?

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