Question about Editor and Assignment

Kristymarie_24

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After sending out a LOI I received an assignment from a trade magazine. I wrote it and after i turned it in I got an email back saying thanks and that she would get back to me. A week or two later all was well and I was approved for $200 payment and given a second assignment. This time my assignment was a feature article. Anyways, I wrote it and am nervous about it. I just don't know if its good enough. plus i never got a reply back..and when i emailed to ask if she was happy with it she said she hadn't had time to read it yet.

My question is..have you ever written something you were hired to write but it ended up not being good enough? If so, how did they tell you?

thanks for all of your help
 

triceretops

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I'm a freelancer both for clients and magazines. I've never had one refused or told it wasn't good enough, but I sure have been through the ringer trying to revise it/them to editor's specs. I've rewritten articles, sometimes four or five times before I got it right. I think I've given up on two articles out of about 2,100, in the past three years. In those cases, the suggested changes were unreasonable and downright weird.

tri
 

gettingby

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It happens, but if you were hired to write the story and they don't want it, you usually get something called a kill fee. It tends to no more than half of what they would have paid you if they took the story.

FYI -- Don't say "anyways." It is always "anyway."
 

Kristymarie_24

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Hopefully if its not what they need I will just have a lot of revisions. I'm so worried about it. I wish I just knew how she felt about it. Hopefully I hear something tomorrow :/
 

*Amel*

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Hopefully you have heard back from the editor by now, but I think you should try not to worry about this issue too much. You already completed one assignment for this publication and got paid for it, and the editor would not have given you a second assignment if she did not like your work. Editors often ask for revisions, but this does not necessarily mean that they are unhappy with an article...it is just part of the (sometimes lengthy) process of getting the tone just right and making sure the article is the best it can be for the target audience. Always make sure you have done your personal best, following whatever instructions you were provided, and then try not to obsess (hard, I know).
 

Jamesaritchie

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"Good enough" usually isn't the problem. None of us hit the bulls-eye with every shot, but if you can write, you can write. Off target, lacking enough depth, etc., are often problems, but my experience is that editors usually tell what they like and don't like about an article, and how to fix it.

Most editors are very good at working with writers to get an article the way they want it. It's par for the course.

Don't sweat it. Even if the editor doesn't like it, and doesn't think it can be fixed, it's just one article.
 

rhymegirl

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When I wrote my second article for Writer's Digest magazine I certainly tried to give them what they wanted.

It turned out we didn't have the same type of article in mind. He was okay with part of it, but wanted me to make revisions and add certain elements.

After reading what he wanted I decided I'd have to rewrite the whole thing. I willingly agreed to do a total re-write. So I did, but I did it quickly, and he liked what I wrote.

I guess my point is that I always try to turn in a well-written article but I am always willing to make revisions.