Readers!
Thank you for all your mail bag questions! I’ll be answering two today. If you have a question you’d like to ask for a future issue, let me know here!
Question 1: I recently was ghosted by an editor and wondered if you had any advice on how to follow up? This wasn’t the normal, I pitched something and they didn’t like it so chose to pass without formally letting me know. This is a new publication, an editor I’ve never worked with but admire, and she reached out to me wanting to get me in on the inaugural issue. We exchanged a few more messages agreeing on the timing, but when it came time to talk about the article I’d be writing she’s vanished from my inbox…I’ve sent two pretty standard follow up emails with no luck. Any thoughts?
Answer 1: I wish I had a definitive answer, but I don’t, because I’ve been through it, and other freelancers have been through it, and there could be a zillion reasons why the editor disappeared. What I can be relatively certain of, though, is that it’s not you.
It’s tempting to put editors on a pedestal (after all, they’re the ones who give us paying work), but they’re people too. That means they can be conflict avoidant, and think that if they ignore your emails, they won’t have to tell you that they lost their budget or an editor above them didn’t like the idea, or [insert whatever reason]. Other than peeking at their Linkedin to see if they’ve changed jobs, or Googling their publication’s name + “layoff,” there’s not much you can do. You can send one more email saying you wanted to follow up one more time before you move on, but after that, drop it.
“This shit happens all the time” isn’t a satisfying answer, but you’re not alone in this. It happened to me just this year — after a Zoom call with multiple editors and I was told assignments would be coming that day! Is it crappy this editor is avoiding you? Sure is. But there’s really not much you can do about it except know it’s not your fault.
This is also why I don’t consider something a gig until I have the official assignment and a contract. Ghosting from editors has happened too many times for me to be sure something is a lock until that time. It’s also why I don’t start any work on something, or go through someone’s 12,623 hoops to become a vendor in their system, or count on that money at a future date, until things are firm. There are just too many variables that could end an assignment before it starts.
Question 2: Do your editors read this newsletter? Have any of them gotten mad at you?
Answer 2: Yes and yes! To your first question, some editors subscribe under their work email addresses, others under personal email addresses. Others see this newsletter when I post it to Linkedin or Bluesky. I’ve never asked why they subscribe, but I imagine it’s for a few reasons. They might be curious about what I’m up to, or want to better understand freelance life so they can be a better editor to their freelancers. More likely, they have freelanced in the past or know they may have to freelance in the future if they get laid off. I know a few of you who subscribe are in that last bucket. I interviewed one of them for my ebook for laid off journalists and those who want to quit.
Because I know some of my editors are here, I’m very careful when writing about current clients. Unless it’s a “How Did This Get Made” feature, I never name anyone outside of the “Recent Bylines” section, even if I’m writing about them in a positive light. It’s always something like “university magazine” or “association publication” or “consumer publication” for a reason. And I never ever mention an editor by name.
As to has anyone gotten mad…it’s happened once. This editor editor make a snitty comment about the newsletter even though I wasn’t discussing my work for them. We parted ways soon after for a bunch of reasons, so BYE.
Onto the rest!
Recent Bylines
“Lead poisoning: how labs aid in the prevention of a major childhood health problem,” Clinical Laboratory News
“Challenges and strategies for adopting point of care testing for infectious diseases,” Clinical Laboratory News
“New hire cohorts maybe a retention boon — or a bust if not managed properly,” HR Dive
What I’m Reading
- The History of Sound by Ben Shattuck. This novel is a series of overlapping (sometimes heavily, sometimes lightly) stories of people who have lived in or moved through New England over 300 years, opening and closing with two men who met in a bar after World War I, fall in love, and go on a very very very long walk to record folk music on wax cylinders. It’s a thinker of a book. It’s also been made into a movie that debuted at the Cannes Film Festival, and it seems to focus just on that initial couple. That’s a bit of a shame. I liked dipping in and out of the lives of all the people here, though I know practically that’d be hard to do in a movie.
What I’m Watching
- In & Out. This movie is very of its pre-gay marriage time, but it is so so good and smart, funny comedy about what was a controversial issue (and sigh controversial to some of the worst people again). Just look at this cast: Kevin Kline, Tom Selleck, Matt Dillon, Bob Newhart, Wilford Brimley, DEBBIE REYNOLDS???? Joan Cusack should have won the Oscar for this scene alone (she was at least nominated!)
- Ghosts (UK version, season 1, 2, 3) There is something to be said about falling into episodic television as a way to just dip out for a bit, and I think we need that. This isn’t the American 20-23 episodes per season model, but 21 episodes between these three seasons. I’m glad I re-watched these because I don’t remember much (probably because I was watching it for the first time in the deadliest part of the pandemic, and my brain was scattered into a zillion pieces). It is a comedy but like The History of Sound, it’s about the different lives that have passed through a place, and makes me think a lot about who came before me here, and who will when I’m gone. Also, on a funnier note, one of my friends is convinced I have a ghost that only my dog can see. I’ve named her Paulina.
Nail Polish of the Week
Cole by Zoya. A peachy cream that works after you’ve (or I’ve) spent most of a holiday weekend in a pool.
Until next time,
Jen A. Miller (she/her)
Notes from a Hired Pen ebook series
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