Getting on Mastheads
Any successful magazine writer will tell you that she has a few top clients — a few editors who consistently seek out her story ideas and even offer her features that editors conceive in-house. The value in such a relationship is that you, the magazine writer, have a relatively stable source of income. The very existence of the relationship means that you get to spend less time sending out query letters and more time actually writing magazine articles.
Most good writers seek to cement this kind of relationship by getting their name onto the magazine's masthead. The writer may be called a contributing editor, an editor-at-large, or even something more specific such as fabrics editor at a fashion magazine. The title you receive usually isn't the most important thing, though. What really matters is the fact that you will have promoted yourself from the ranks of “writers” to the level of “regular colleague.”
It is a common misperception that all the people named on a magazine's masthead are staff members. In reality, many magazines have only a skeleton crew of full-time workers while most of their writers — and even some of their editors — are independent contractors.
Being a Go-To Writer
The difference is substantial, and something that you should not take lightly. Being a magazine's go-to writer, or writer of choice, means that you will be considered first for assignments. Some editors will even brainstorm story assignments with your skills in mind, crafting ideas that play to your talents. This is a boon for you both creatively and financially. You'll be getting more of the work you like, which translates into a happier existence, and you'll be getting more work in general, which translates into better pay.
How do you go about getting on a magazine's masthead? It truly depends on the magazine. Some editors are willing to make better deals than others, while other editors are bound by whatever details their corporate parent companies will allow them to suggest to you.
Following Accepted Protocols
You can ask to be put onto a magazine's masthead, but in some situations, this may be considered out of line. For instance, if you've written just one article for a magazine, it's probably not within the bounds of good behavior to ask your editor for a monthly column and a seat at the annual editorial-meeting table.
On the other hand, if you've written a half-dozen good articles for a magazine and are already functioning as the de facto “in the field” editor on certain topics or for certain sections, it doesn't hurt to ask your editor what the possibility might be of your name being added to the masthead. In some cases, the editor will even make the offer to you before you ask about the possibility at all.
