by Leo Wiles
05 August 2015
Dear Rachel and Leo, I currently edit a title I love. However I’d like to know how, without losing my job, if I can begin to freelance outside the mag. Anon
When you edit full-time, it can be hard to get motivated to do anything but find a nice bottle of wine after work, so my hat’s off to you, Anon. On the other hand, as an ex-editor myself, I can completely understand the void created when you find yourself editing and commissioning other creatives’ copy rather than producing it yourself.
Editors who go rogue basically have two options: choosing a pen name (preferably not anon), and moonlighting in the hope nobody recognises their eye-catching turn of phrase (or bottle of anti nausea /guilt pills). Or, they brazenly declare a need for a more stimulating job description or freedom to be allowed to play outside the office with a new team. Note my deliberate choice of the word ‘rogue’. It’s because, unless handled well, your boss is going to start keeping an eye out for your replacement as a reward for telling them that their dreams and commitment are no longer aligned with yours.
So, if you do decide to ‘fess up and do it out in the open then you’ll need to draw upon all those diplomatic dealing-with-difficult-people lessons life has handed you, and pitch it right. Which includes divulging why you are motivated to make this change, like a larger income (maybe there wasn’t money in the coffers to give you a raise at your last review) or a desire for a new way to express yourself. If it’s the latter and you have a good working relationship with your publisher, you could offer to write cover stories, a column or something other than the editor’s letter.
Outside the office, you could start writing THAT book you’ve always dreamt about. Or, begin a blog like a lot of other writers, who find themselves working for a genre or in a niche that doesn’t allow them to express themselves personally. One option for those who are financially driven is going downstairs to advertising and letting them know you’re available for copywriting gigs. A fellow editor and I did this on one title for most of our tenure. Knowing the house style, title, upcoming issue themes all meant we were perfect for the job.
Alternatively, introduce the idea that you will be writing for a non-competitive sister title in the same stable that has a completely different style – perhaps first person real life as I did for Take 5 can be less combative. I also wrote longer investigative pieces for weekend supplements that in no way would have worked for my outlet. My publisher let me because I never did it in work time and was able to convince them that it was a way to find a new approach to stories and stopped me going stale (and stir crazy).
Of course any option you choose is dependent on how well you get along with your boss and how conflicted they may feel. Which is why if you do want to do the right thing, ethically you need to think about the decision from their point of view. Are they about to start a family, is a key player on another title playing up, is the circulation unhealthy and they’re looking to make people redundant? You’ll need to understand the market you’re in and how your announcement is going to affect your boss, the team and your contacts.
Somehow you also need to guarantee that it will not interfere with your current work by explaining how you plan to fit it in with your current commitments. If you have money in the bank and another source of income (i.e. a partner), you might consider going part time. That’ll leave you the security of a steady income and time to write for yourself. Or, if you crave getting your hands dirty, maybe it’s time to think about taking a cut in pay to become a feature writer. You’ll probably have a warmer reception to your news if your boss came up through the ranks. If so, they may well understand how frustrating it can be as an editor to commission and edit other people’s work and miss that sensation of pulling a story together yourself.
No matter which of the above options you choose my number one suggestion would be don’t branch out until you have enough money in the bank to cope with your boss turning around in six months telling you that the arrangement does not work for them. Because once the cat’s out of the bag your boss will never really be happy with you not being 100 percent committed to the title like they are.
Around 20 percent of Rachel’s List members who work full-time freelance on the side, according to our Show Me The Money 2014-2015 survey. If you’re one of them, we’d love to hear how you manage it and any pitfalls to avoid.
