Confessions of an "Economy Editor"
But is she flying Delta or JetBlue?
While having my daily chat with Jamie Wilson, former Beauty Editor at Harper’s Bazaar (she’s going to kill me for this s/o) we were chatting over the highs and lows of being freelancer’s now and not being on the same plane as “first class” in-house editors anymore. From there, the term “Economy Editors” was birthed.
e·con·o·my ed·i·tor
noun
1. A person who was once an in-house/on-staff editor and was laid off/fired — now working as a full time freelancer.
“Honey, she’s nothing but an economy editor.”
2. A second-rate editor.
“We can only afford to give economy editors $50 USD.”
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I’ve done freelance writing before prior to my full-time editorial role, but still had the security of a 9-5 gig to cushion me, so if my pitch easn’t picked up or responded to, it wasn’t life or death. Now, that’s the total complete opposite. (Don’t worry, i’m not destitute.)
The landscape for both “first class” in-house and freelance editors/writers is quite bleak at this juncture. I’ve pitched around and quite frankly many pubs have a cap budget for freelance writers or simply editors/writers are so under water that they can’t help anyone but themselves. (Which is totally valid. This was my life for 2.5 years.)
Gratefully for myself, I’ve been able to secure a few pennies based off the relationships I’ve built with other editors and PR’s so all hope isn’t lost for me just yet. It truly pays to be a fuckin’ good person at all times.
This time though is definitely more inspiration for me to keep brining content to BoyBeat and growing out my audience so we can really take this rocket ship to the next level.
I humbly pledge that by this time next year, if I’m not a “first class editor” in-house, I’ll be the pilot of the plane of something even greater. *inserts wink*
YOUR MIND!!! You are a first-class editor in my heart <3 (And so is Jamie!!!!)