Greetings from Covid quarantine! It’s my third time on this ride, feels second nature at this point. Sigh.

Anyway! Today we’re talking about working with editors.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Editors need freelancers as much as freelancers need editors. It’s easy to conflate the job title with actual authority, and so many freelancers I work with and talk with feel a sort of implicit, unsaid power imbalance. Editors call the shots, and the rest of us should just fall in line, the (misguided) thinking goes.

But it’s not true at all! Really! Sure, editors decide whether to commission your pitch, but freelancers have much more power than you think. Many editors depend on the immeasurable effort of the freelance community, and you shouldn’t put up with an editor who isn’t holding up their end of the bargain.

Practically speaking, sometimes you do have to just cut your losses and move on. That simple! But it won’t always be the case that both freelancer and editor are aligned in thinking that things aren’t working, and it could get very tricky very quickly (not to mention that there may be contract issues at play if you decide to rescind a story after commission). If you can hold your nose and deal with it, just finish the assignment and never work with them again, but that, of course, won’t always be realistic. All I can say is be direct, don’t be rude, but be firm. They’re wasting your time and money, and your efforts are better spent elsewhere. (Okay, maybe phrase that last part a little more delicately.)

All that said, remember to keep in mind that if an editor isn’t holding up their end of the bargain, whatever form it may take, it’s not necessarily a statement against you or your work. As was my case, it may just be that they were overloaded and couldn’t give you/your story the amount of attention deserved. Or maybe they’re going through a divorce, or moving, or worried about their job, or their apartment flooded … or any number of a million reasons that have nothing to do with you. So do keep in mind that we’re all people living lives outside of our jobs!

Still, abandoning a project because you don’t like working with the editor is never easy. It’s awkward, it may harm that relationship if the editor is rude about it, and you may lose out on that money if you don’t end up selling the story elsewhere.

But think about it this way: Is the emotional, cognitive, and spiritual cost of dealing with a stressful situation worth the byline and check?

Good luck out there, and have a great weekend!