Being Helpful Without Being Suckered
The sticky part about becoming an editor's ally is that, with the wrong kind of editor, offering to be helpful can turn into situations where the editor tries to take advantage of you. All editors are different people. Some are more ethical and honest than others. It's just a fact of life, the same as in any other business. You should always try to become your editor's ally and to make her your advocate, but you also need to look for warning signs that you are dealing with a less-than-scrupulous editor who will try to take advantage of your largesse.
Warning Signs
There are a few warning signs that you can look for to determine whether you're dealing with an editor who is trying to abuse your relationship. For the most part, if an editor is doing one of these things when she could be doing another, you should consider the behavior a red flag and ease away from offering to help her in the future.
Asking you to write for free to help stem budget cuts at the magazine: She should at least offer you a reduced rate.
Asking you to add multiple sidebars to completed features without extra pay: One idea once in a while is okay, but constant additions is an abuse of your relationship.
Asking you to take photographs to go with your article without extra pay: You may not receive a professional photographer's day rate, but you should receive some compensation.
Asking you to withhold query letters from competing magazines even if she is not giving you any regular assignments: She should make it financially worth your while to forgo working for her competitors.
Asking you to produce countless queries for stories that she later decides she does not want to publish: You end up working for no pay, and her attitude shows that she does not value your time.
Should you find yourself trying to make an advocate or an ally out of an editor who works in these ways, you might want to reconsider the relationship. After all, you can take assignments from an editor like this from time to time without making her one of your favorite, go-to clients. At the end of the day, you want to be sure the editors with whom you choose to align yourself are high-quality people in the industry — because your name will be associated with them. Think twice about working hard to make allies of editors who are less than stellar in their business dealings.
How to Gently Back Off
The easiest way to untangle a budding relationship with an unscrupulous editor is to become too busy to help out on all the “little extras” the editor wants you to do for free. Whether you are up to your ears in other assignments or not, you can tell the editor that your plate is just too full to help him right now, but that you would be happy to do what you can for him in the future.
Never, ever make an enemy out of an editor — even if you believe she is the biggest cheater and liar in the business. You never know who her friends are, where she will work next, or what effect she might have on your career down the road. If you have a problem relationship, ease out of it as gently as possible.
Backing off from an editor in this way accomplishes two goals for you. First, you protect yourself without making an enemy, and second, you leave the editor with the impression that if he wants you to write for him in the future, he will have competition for your time. The latter is usually a good thing for these kinds of editors to know because they are less likely to try to push you around if they know you can earn your living elsewhere.
