On the whole, I love my life as a freelance writer – the benefits to being freelance are many; working from home would have to count as the top benefit though and I always feel lucky to be able to do it, especially when I read commuter tweets in high summer!
However, and it is a bit of a problem, I hate pitching ideas out. Pitching an idea is when you contact a publication editor with an idea for a feature or a column and hope that a million other beauty freelancers haven’t had the same idea. I am just totally convinced the answer will be no – and what leads on from that is a whole spiral of insecurity.
I’ve been pretty well fully employed as a freelance writer the whole of my career with very few gaps. But I am convinced that each job is my last and that feeling never goes away which is obviously a huge downside to freelancing, but is something I am sure other freelance writers will relate to.
Even though I’m in a transient phase with my blog trying to decide whether just to bite the bullet and do it full time, what I find is that with PRs, *just* a blog isn’t enough – their clients want to see words on printed pages, not just in cyber-space and that’s the thing that is currently holding me back from committing to blogging full time. And that is despite the fact that my blog actually has more readers than some magazines. And, of course that means I have to pitch out instead of just scurrying back to the safety of my blog where I can write whatever I want, when I want and I never say no to one of my ideas!
There are still pockets of the beauty world that still don’t ‘get’ blogs. Magazines have reached out to bloggers, but I think (with some exceptions – hello More Magazine) to harvest their readership than a genuine desire to work with the competition (and we are). Personally, I’d like to see more bloggers bringing their skills to magazines and newspapers alike and working in a way that is beneficial to blogger, publication and readers.
I have tried really hard to explain the benefit of a beauty blogging column to one editor, who, because he/she doesn’t really read blogs, simply doesn’t understand the popularity, reach and influence of beauty blogs. And from a commercial point of view, advertisers are all about on-line right now; a blogger column might bridge the gap between print and internet that hasn’t ever happened before and I know that print is struggling for ad revenue. It is so frustrating and ultimately leaves me feeling I’ve begged for something that is entirely for my benefit, when actually it is not. I saw a mag the other day with a whole beauty page entitled ‘beauty blog’ written by someone who doesn’t have a blog. And, there is the valid argument that if it is in print, then it isn’t, er, a blog! But, it can’t be so hard to blend the two into something that respects the roots of blogging and print.
I love writing for print – if I’m honest, I love writing on line even more; it sort of feels like home. Print beauty blogger columns will come – when the penny drops fully and personally, I can’t wait to see the day that the two mediums converge.
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19 comments
Very interesting reading! Love that just because the ‘we’ has been dropped from ‘web-log’ people think they can use the term ‘blog’ willy nilly. If it’s in print, it’s just a ‘log’!
your blog isn’t as fun to read anymore..
here here!!
i am now left wondering what more magazine did haha xx
anon…. I dont understand your leaving a comment on a blog you don’t like to read anymore! Why would you even comment? Please go sit in the corner and rethink your life.. maybe have a cup of tea also!!?? That is all!!
My personal experience suggests that so many women love to look at print magazines and the advance access keeps them coming back. But so many readers just don’t trust recommendations from magazines (or sales associates either), especially if she’s wasted money on those types of recommendations in the past. Whether this credibility problem can be solved (and it won’t be if the editors don’t understand that they have one) by bringing bloggers in is another question.
I’ve basically stopped buying magazines because I feel like the product recommendations are biased and swayed by the big companies. Blogging is a community. Magazines cannot compete with that! Blogging provides so much for it’s readers and writers. I shouldn’t hanker after a career in magazines. Be yourself and keep blogging.
For now don’t put all your eggs in one basket and carry on with print and blog. I think the situation will resolve itself as print circulations fall. I always enjoy reading your blog.
Blogging offers the freedom magazines can’t…
We’ve all noticed those double page ads featuring the very SAME products just two pages on from the “What I’m loving this month” editor’s picks! (Featuring exactly the same product/brand in the ad.)
But publishing is a business. It’s a money conundrum all round.
Also find that the beauty bloggers are ahead of the print beauty editors – blogs are a faster much more immediate medium, quicker turnaround/”trend-spotters”.
Having said all this, there’s sometimes nothing better than hitting the sofa with the new issue of your favourite mag!
For the most part, blOgs still have a credibility that magazines lost a long time ago. When’s the last time you saw a magazine tell its readers that a product or service is crap? Their advertising revenue is dependent on making sure you keep buying whatever is between the cover. Blogs are still independent of that anchor, and I hope they stay that way, BBB included!
I’m not sure it’s a good idea to look to magazines as a reliable source of information. Rather, see them simply as a presentation medium for products and services. That’s what they do, advertising for companies who want you to buy their stuff. I expect a magazine’s income stream would dry up p.d.q. if it started offering honest opinion on the goods it advertises.
Blogs fill this gap beautifully. I rely on a handful of trusted beauty bloggers, BBB included, to give an unbiased review. Always keeping in mind that what works for one women, may not for another. And this credibility is only maintained by the fact that, for the most part, beauty blogs are still financially independent of the products and services they feature. I hope it stays that way too frankly.
Very interesting. I’ve been working freelance for 12 years and even though it’s in another field, I know the same feeling of never knowing what’s going to happen, even if I get less and less lows. With age (one of the benefits!) and networking, it gets easier with the years, doesn’t it?
I’d love to read blogs from old(er) beauty bloggers, it seems like most are written by girls in their 20s. Not yours and Lisa Eldridge though, great. But is there any beauty blog written by ladies in their 50s, 60s or even 70s and 80s. It would be great reading if they are funny too.
I don’t understand why some don’t get it. Honestly, if Instagram can sell for $1Billion, doesn’t that tell them how important the virtual world is? They really need to stop snorting around in the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s and get into the 21st century!
I love reading your blog!
I too hope that print and online beauty writing will integrate more fully in the near future. I have acquaintances in the writing world who have also struggled with pitching ideas. It’s not always easy to come up with new beauty topics!
@Sophielondon…Hello, it’s me “Middle Aged Beauty Queen”. To be honest, I’m a little okay a lot past middle age and I write a beauty blog. If you google middle aged beauty queen you will find me.
As far as BBB goes, I read blogs because my old eyes cannot read the print in magazines anymore. Is it just me or has the print gotten smaller? And I read blogs for the honesty, I want to know when you think a product is crappy. I don’t like it when bloggers go on about something that was given to them, I lke reading about what you bought with your own M O N e Y!
Xoxo — Judi
Thanks for the love! Our beauty team read your blog every day and alerted me to it x
As a consumer and a freelance writer I think you’re on the money.
I write features for women’s magazines and have just started a blog. It’s a much bigger challenge to get people to read your blog than to write for a magazine with an established readership.
As a consumer I rarely turn to magazines for beauty/fashion inspiration. Blogs offer a more diverse and genuine take on what’s current.
Well done for making it work in both mediums!
http://pearlsandpurls.wordpress.com/
Good post, and have to say I agree.
I work as freelance writer part time and fit a lot of my blogging and writing in around my full time job. I have been lucky enough to secure work with some magazines helping build my portfolio but I have been rather rudely told by one that my blog “didn’t make me a writer”
I do believe print and blogs can work together and hopefully as time goes on magazines will adjust.
(high five to More! though)
I read magazines and blogs. each one has a different place. i read blogs for instant gratification and magazines for in depth analysis on different topics.
my only problem with blogs: most of them have fallen prey to beauty PRs and their stream of free samples. so now when you read a so called review it is nothing more than reading a press release. I hate that and it seems it is happening more and more often. So to me it seems that bloggers are ultimately falling into the same pitfalls that magazine editors face (featuring advertised products etc etc).
I also agree with trimperley: keep focusing on your blog and also freelancing. magazines are facing lots of problems but then again it would be hard for me not to read them. a good magazine is just great.