Yeah, yeah, I’m posting twice this week, so just get over it already. Take your non-mouse hand, reach up and close your mouth before something flies in there and dies.
This relative flurry of posting is partly to make up for my rare, if ever, post frequency while I’m in Romania for four weeks in May and partly because I’m consumed in a stuttering rage of pissed offtitude!! If I hadn’t already launched my stress toy out my 26th story window during last week’s anti-travel writer BS, I’d be liquefying it right now as I transform into the Incredible Freelance Writer Hulk. Yeeeaarrrrgggjackhole!!
The incapacitating feelings of wrath that I’m experiencing right now are heightened because I feel obligated to be pissed off on behalf of every established and aspiring freelance travel writer in regards to the self-righteously obtuse comments recently made by New York Times travel editor Stuart Emmrich about their policy of not accepting stories that were written on the strength of any complimentary services (airline tickets, hotels, meals, etc.). Furthermore, he highlighted a point that I wasn’t aware of previously, that being the Times won’t accept any stories from a freelancer who has ever accepted a comp in modern history! Are you f*cking kidding me??
Well, to be fair, there were caveats. Like say the freelancer in question was bitten on the face three times by a Burmese King Cobra, in which case the Times is willing to overlook that the freelancer didn’t crawl out of the jungle, down the nearest village, hand over his emergency c-note to a black market money-changer so as to pay for the antidote out-of-pocket.
This is an old peeve of mine that has intensified as I’ve become crabbier and devoid of all empathy in the past few weeks, but it’s being especially tweaked because it’s coming from someone that I’d hoped would know better. Further to Mr. Emmrich’s comments, in case a hapless freelancer has any questions or needs clarification about possible loopholes, the Times has posted their ethics handbook online. Fair enough. For most forms of journalism, particularly for salaried employees, you gotta have something like this. But when dealing with freelancers, particularly in the arena of travel where research expenses are prohibitively high, you’ve gotta find a middle ground.
I don’t know what the Times pays for one-off articles, but I know the national average paid by newspapers is $200-300. I’ll give the NYT the benefit of the doubt, since they’re the Times and presumably have a little bit more money to throw around, and just guess that they pay $400-500 per piece. (Anyone that knows better, please comment below.) Nevertheless, this compensation doesn’t come anywhere near covering the expenses of, say, a five night trip to Copenhagen ($1,500-2,000), never mind the freelancer’s time investment (let’s call it six days of travel and two days of writing), which should be, at a minimum, $25 per hour (or $1,000 per week), what with the self-employment tax and other cruel penalties freelance writers have to deal with like costly individual health insurance that I swear I’ll look into just as soon as I get back from Romania, mom.
I point this out this no-brainer fact, because on the subject of pitching the NYT, Emmrich innocently offers that “The Travel section needs reporters to identify these stories and ferret them out, not people who just want to write up their vacation experiences.”
Oh really? Does it get a little exasperating that all you receive in your submissions inbox are hacks traveloguing their trip to Colonial Williamsburg? Are you wondering why most of these submissions are unprintable, clichéd amateur nonsense? Well since you seem to be genuinely baffled, I’ll tell you: it’s because any idiot can see that it’s mathematically impossible to make a living pitching to you. You can’t expect a professional writer to pay for expenses out-of-pocket for all of the trips they take year round, and then turn around and pay them the shit fee you pay for one-off articles. Maybe a hungry newbie will eat a $700 one-time loss for a NYT byline, but not a professional who has the rest of the year(s) to think about.
So, now that you’ve alienated 98% of the people that have the skills and qualifications to produce a NYT-worthy piece with your sanctimonious ban on comps, please don’t act surprised when all you receive are missives fired off by ambitious stay-at-home moms. (Not that’s there’s anything wrong with that. I love stay-at-home moms, particularly when they stay at home with their shrieking two year olds, rather than sitting next to me on a trans-Atlantic flight.)
To sum up, you can’t have it both ways. Either you’re gonna have to accept stories that involved comps – and have faith that the writer has the capacity to objectively review a comped service – or start reimbursing freelancers for their travel expenses. Or pay an upfront fee large enough that the writer actually has something left to buy groceries when all is said and done. We’re talking upwards of $1,500 for a short domestic destination piece and $3,500 or more for international destination features. If you expect everyone else around you to bow down to your rules on comps, you’re going to have to start putting out.
Better yet, cut the diplomatic crap, stop pretend-coaching potential NYT submitters and own up to the fact that in a perfect world you’d rather not deal with freelance submissions at all. This way you don’t have to spend one morning every six weeks slogging through the submissions inbox, deleting all those stories about Orlando and Philadelphia’s cheese steak stands, and people won’t waste time and energy sending those stories to you in the first place. After all, as Mr. Emmrich happily admits in the same piece, he has an overflowing pool of gifted, NYT salaried writers on hand that he can tap if he’s ever in a jam and no one can deny that they’re a lot easier to work with than a hodgepodge of time-consuming, one-off freelancer pieces.
Finally, Mr. Emmrich, with all due respect, clearly you’ve enjoyed the security and bulging paychecks of the NYT for a little too long to be authoritatively disseminating sage wisdom on the subject of freelance travel writing. The next time you feel compelled to lecture aspiring freelance travel writers, it would behoove you to emerge from your insulated, salaried Editorial Fortress of Solitude and bring yourself up to speed on the realities of freelance travel writing of the current century. Thank you.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have business errands to run that cannot be done until I’ve pancaked over the alarming green tone my skin has taken on and replaced the torn rags that were perfectly presentable Old Navy clothes when I started composing this diatribe.
Thanks for that.
In high school, I was taught you weren’t supposed to accept comps in journalism, which makes sense, but I could never understand how travel writers made a living and got around that way. I always figured they were just really good at budgeting or were able to get their articles published in enough newspapers/magazine/etc. to make a living. I don’t know.
But this makes sense, I think. And hopefully, like you wrote, “the writer has the capacity to objectively review a comped service.”
I’m going to send this to my former teacher.
Sounds like you feel the world owes you a living. If rates are too low it’s a good indication that “travel writing” is not a very viable business because of high supply and low demand, and complaining isn’t going to change that.
Naomi – True, in a perfect world I’d be able to sell the same article five or six times and I’d therefore be able to afford all out-of-pocket expenses. But then we’re talking the delicate matter of not violating a bunch of non-compete agreements and spending more time pitching newspapers than actually writing. It’s much easier just to do a single magazine assignment than getting bogged down in all that bureaucratic BS.
Fabian – Yes, travel writing is saturated with too many people and not enough work, but you’ve missed the point. I make a comfortable living: in magazines, guidebooks and websites. Magazines (the ones I work for) allow comps. Guidebooks pay well enough that I don’t need comps. Web sites, well, mostly they pay crap, but their expectations are very low and are usually happy to re-print travelogues and blog posts, so there’s no additional expenses or effort on my end. The point was that *newspapers* ask the world from freelancers, then pay slave wages. I argue, that newspapers have to change – somehow. Meanwhile, I advise freelancers simply not to bother.
i resent what fabian says.
i hope fabian uses these parameters only for travel writing,because i have a long ,very long list of jobs with low rates and just saying “it’s not a very viable business because of high supply yadda yadda” is downright offensive. maybe the world does not owe a living(god forbid!in the US of all places!)but the world DOES owe not to exploit in every possible way fully qualified people that just want to lead a dignified life.
.complaining can do a lot .complaining has changed the course of history,complaining created the united states. so briefly ,what pisses me off today on top of the new post is fabians comment.
NYT not accepting writers who have EVER been on a press trip is something I’ve been wrestling with, because a NYT byline is something I’d like to strive for. I see press trips offered all over the place, but I worry that in accepting one I might eventually feel how my church pastor in junior high told me I’d feel if I had premarital sex: that I’d always regret and thatmy future husband (if I could even get one after tarting about) would never respect me, and that all my other lovers would be in bed with us for the rest of our lives.
Hmmm… based on how well NOT saving myself has worked out for me in the end, maybe I should start accepting multiple press trips.
And perhaps this is a metaphor I need not extend any further.
You know, I am new to this game, but wow…
I have read more about travel writing than writings about travel in the last few weeks.
Is it always like this?!?
I feel for the plight of someone who wishes to make travel writing-or any kind of writing for that matter-a full time gig.
As I recall, Don George-at a travel writing class in S.F.- said there were very few travel writers in the entire world making a full time living from doing nothing more than travel writing.
I am in the class of worker that you hard working freelancers probably hate: I am retired so I am doing this for pleasure (?) and NOT for a living.
As the NYT complaining about the quality of articles – isn’t that there job, to print the quality stuff and shit-can the trash?
The fact that I’ll never make it past the howling dogs of “ethics” at the NYT is made more palatable by the high quality of THIS RANT.
Well ranted, Leif.
Well damn, by accepting Club Level upgrades and free WIFI & bottled water, did I sabotage my NYT travel writing dreams? Guess I’ll be posting to http://www.everywheremag.com
Leif, my apologies, I may have hit the panic/despair key too soon. Just read the Sunday NYT’s Travel section, and on p.2, a short article “Lonely Planet.tv Looking for Amateur Travel Videos”. All one has to do is upload colorful and interesting amateur travel videos (I’ve got plenty) to the LP.tv site & if accepted as a showcase piece, $500 paycheck. So even if I can’t pass the Times Travel Ethics Test, I might just slip under the LP Review Radar and get in; you’ve got connections there…so maybe a word from you?
Catherine – further to our private emails, I think there’s a stage in a career like we have that you have to choose between notoriety and earning a living. I’ve been coached that if I ever want a book deal or TV show gig, I have to aim for notoriety. But, I’ve been pretty happy with the mid-point between notoriety and money I’ve had these past two years. By not setting my sights on regular NYT bylines, I may never get the brass ring, but in every other way, I’ve never been happier. So there.
AWT – It’s like that man. I feel like I’ll never be done reading about how other travel writers do their jobs. There’s countless permutations to this job and I think the trick is to find two or three that you can do well and you’ll be set.
Pam – Long time no commiserate. I don’t think a NYT byline has nearly the same strength now than it did ten years ago. I’d argue that your Hawaii work has more weight. I mean, the longevity of a single NYT piece versus a guidebook simply can’t compare. Keep doing what you’re doing.
Anne Marie – Thank you.
Maureen – I’m afraid I know very little about LPTV stuff. I’ve personally failed to impress them so far, so you might do better to ask someone who’s had some success. Or do like you do with pitching a new publication. Study what’s being deemed ‘showcase’ material and send in something in a similar vein, though in your own style, of course.
Leif you are so right… It’s the same here in the UK… But honestly these people sat on travel desks weren’t born yesterday. Just tell them what they want to hear… “Sure! I paid for the trip all by myself.” How can they prove otherwise? Let’s face it… they aren’t stupid. To have reached the heady heights of commissioning travel for the NYT they’ve taken a few freebies in their time. This “we don’t take stuff from people who’ve accepted freebies” bull is to keep the dumb readers who know no different and think the media is impartial and well-researched happy in their little cotton wool covered world… ahh the joy of travel writing eh?! (How’s your pension plan coming along?)
Thanks for this lovely rant!
As a guidebook and travel writer, I’ve found the recent media explosion around accepting freebies, etc. both cathartic and annoying as hell. Everybody always thinks they can do somebody else’s job better. The NYT no-freebies-ever policy is ridiculous tripe. The first time I wrote for a guidebook (Fodor’s) I paid for everything myself. Having gone into debt for the privilege, I wised up the next time and let the big hotels foot the bill. (I still pay my way at mom-n-pops.) Did my reviews change? No. Why? I was never beholden to anybody to write a flattering review, whatever they offered me. Another little known secret: businesses have little recompense if a travel writer trashes them, justly or unjustly.
Thank god for your hulk reference. My growing snarl was reduced to giggles.