The Press: The Free-Lancers

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For their contents most U.S. magazines are dependent on the ruggedly individualistic breed of writers called freelancers.

The free-lancers write more than half the articles that appear in the Saturday Evening Post, Reader's Digest, Cottier's, McCall's, This Week and scores of others.

And their importance has vastly increased in recent years as U.S. magazines, which were once mostly fiction, have shifted to about 75% nonfiction. Thus, except for the handful of magazines that are largely staff-written, free-lancers have become indispensable. "The free-lancer," says Collier's Editor Roger Dakin. "is the backbone of the magazine industry." He is also the substance of an American dream.

For years the vision of good pay, independence, no office hours, etc., has attracted thousands of writers and would-be writers to freelancing. Last week, in one day, Satevepost alone received close to 300 manuscripts "over the transom," i.e., unsolicited. Self-help magazines—Writer's Digest, Author and Journalist, etc.—bolster the dream with enticing ads: "No More Rejection Slips," or "Enjoy Fame and Fortune as a Writer." Reality v. Dream. Actually, the reality is much less enticing than the dream. Of the thousands who have tried free-lancing magazine articles, only about 70 or 80 in the U.S. earn upwards of $10,000 a year.

Countless others, including many professional newsmen, write an occasional article, or hold regular jobs while they try to free-lance on the side. But the successful full-time free-lancer who depends only on the articles he sells to magazines is a rare breed. "Since the decline of the oldtime prospector," says Morton Sontheimer, past president of the 91-member Society of Magazine Writers, "few people have worked with less companionship, few have had to rely more on their own resources." For the top writers magazines compete fiercely. Satevepost pays a new writer $750 for his first piece, then jumps in steps of $250 to as high as $2,500, or even $3,000. Collier's averages $1,500 for an article, the Reader's Digest $2,000, but both magazines go higher. Editors also woo writers by other means, e.g., the Post specializes in "Fast service," tries to give a free-lancer "an answer on an article or an idea within 30 hours after receiving it. Digest Editor DeWitt Wallace often sends handsome bonuses to writers whose work he likes.

Between Checks. A successful free lancer usually submits at least four or five article ideas for every one a magazine takes. He rarely begins to work on an article until he gets a green light from an editor. If the article is turned down, expense money may be all the free-lancer gets unless the magazine decides, or has agreed in advance, to pay him a "minimum guarantee." Success comes hard, but it comes steadily to those who stick to it.