At the end of August, Sean “Diddy” Combs posted the following rant on youtube.com. “As you know, I do have my own jet, but I’ve been having to fly back and forth to L.A. pursuing my acting career. Now, if I’m flying back and forth twice a month, that’s like $200,000, $250,000 round trip. F— that. I’m back on American Airlines.”
He then crossed the line into audaciousness when he said, “I give a shout out to all my Saudi Arabia brothers and sisters and all the brothers and sisters in all the countries that have oil — if you could please send me some oil for my jet, I would truly appreciate it.”
In that same vein, I’m about to do something almost as outrageous. You see, I’m a fledgling freelance writer who targets magazines for writing assignments. This kind of freelancing has always been a tough way to make a living, but it has become even worse in this economy. Even the pros with stellar clips and contacts to die for are having a hard time finding projects. The outlook is gloomy and it doesn’t look like it’s going to get brighter anytime soon.
According to Woodenhorsepub.com, Hearst publications not only folded Cosmogirl but they canceled their holiday party as well. The MediaPost’s Mail Bag on Oct. 16 predicted a wave of magazine closures. Some executives from several large magazine groups spoke anonymously and believe that magazines such as, Entertainment Weekly, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, Smartmoney, Men’s Vogue, Teen Vogue, Nickelodeon, National Geographic for Kids and Sports Illustrated for Kids, are perilously close to folding.
The following information from the Publishers Information Bureau is another bad sign: Year-to-date ad pages has declined 9.5% and was down 12.9% in the third quarter. You may not like those ads that you see in publications, but they are a necessary evil to contend with. Without them, the magazine doesn’t make money and doesn’t publish.
There are those who say that paper-paged magazines are on the way out because of the environment and mailing costs. They predict that magazines, newspapers, and books are all going to go electronic. That may be true someday. But also, publishers aren’t making much money on the internet. Sure, operating costs are kept down, but revenue isn’t high. That’s because when people look something up online, they expect it to be free. In the mean time, we still have paper publications.
So I’m unabashedly asking. Give a sistah a break! Show writers in general some love and subscribe to a few magazines (but not O. Oprah doesn’t like freelancers) and newspapers. I would truly appreciate it.
© 2008 – 2009, Lisa Pawlowski. All rights reserved.
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