The no. 1 reason editors don’t respond to writers right away is because they’re too busy juggling the many other demands of their jobs.

That’s what I found when I started a freelance editing gig, and what I heard from other editors after I wrote that post on the subject not long ago.

So, one freelancer wrote in after reading the post, is there anything that would get an editor to respond to me right away?

Good question. I asked some editor friends for their opinions on what it takes to get them to reply immediately to a writer’s letter of introduction, pitch or completed manuscript.

One says the best way to get a fast response from her is to have a killer story pitch, one “that’s so perfectly honed to the editor’s needs it’s irresistible.” Unfortunately, she doesn’t encounter those very often. “Pitches like that are like snow leopards: hard to spot and in danger of extinction,” she says. “But I get them from time to time, usually from people….who completely understand what the publication needs, and with whom I’ve already had discussions that narrow the topic range.”

Fast Cash Freelance addressed the same topic in this recent post, saying it takes more than a good idea for an editor to bite. According to the post, writers are most likely to hear back from editors if they have access to hard-to-reach sources (think celebrities or CEOs), expertise or first-hand knowledge of a particular topic, or can demonstrate their ability to do tough research to back up a pitch. Dependability, clever word crafting, speed and a contrarian streak aren’t bad either.

In the recent past, I’ve had editors say “yes” to pitches in less than 24 hours on several occasions. Once I started following a high-profile management expert and business columnist on Twitter right before the pub date of her latest business book. After she followed me back, I introduced myself and inquired whether she’d make herself available for an interview about the book and herself. When she said yes, I immediately pitched a Q&A to an editor at a business publication I’d started to write for, and got a yes within a day.

Another time I started following a publisher on Twitter, she followed me back, and based on something I’d seen her tweet, I asked if she’d be interested in a pitch on a related subject. She said yes and DM’d me the name and email of an editor to pitch. I sent a query the same day, and wound up with an assignment less than 24 hours later.

There’s something to be said with being in the right place at the right time, or responding quickly when you get even the smallest opening. But that only works if you understand the publication you’re pitching to, or the subject matter, or preferably both. In other words, do your homework. Then follow through by filing your story on time and error free – so the next time that editor sees an email with your name on it in their inbox, they’ll make the time to look at it and reply right away.

When it comes to the media business, the world is flat – and I don’t mean the screens replacing print for reading everything from newspapers to books, though that’s happening too.

I’m talking about flat in the sense that with so many newspaper and magazine staff jobs going by the wayside, publications don’t have as many middle managers or mid-level editors as there used to be. As a result, many publications are farming work out to independent contractors, editors and writers.

With so much in flux, at any given time the hierarchy of who’s working for whom could change, and the editor you wrote for yesterday maybe the writer you edit tomorrow.

It’s happened to me in the past couple months, as I’ve taken on a new editing project. I’ve found myself assigning stories to not one, not two but three freelance writer/editors who at one time or another I’ve written for while they were either staff or freelance editors. Another writer I’m working with is also a freelance editor who may eventually throw some assignments my way.

If it’s happening to me, it’s got to be happening to other writers too.

So how do you act when your boss today may be the person reporting to you tomorrow?

1. Quit thinking of writer-editor relationships as ‘us v. them.’ Constantly pitting yourself against editors because of perceived bad treatment – lousy contract language, unreasonable deadlines, crummy editing or late payments -  makes you a victim. If you’re not happy about aspects of a writing opportunity you have the power to make a choice: negotiate new terms, walk away, or accept the fact that the terms are lousy but you’re taking the assignment anyway. Yes, sometimes the editor you’re dealing with is disorganized, mean or incompetent. But in many situations, problems you encounter may be beyond their control. If you run into trouble the best thing to do is talk, via email or better yet, by phone.

2. Approach the editor-writer relationship as one of equals. One’s not better than the other, just responsible for different things. Editors translate ideas into stories suitable for their audience, sit through a lot of meetings, buffer writers from demands – reasonable or otherwise – of editors and other publication staff higher up the food chain and prep articles for prime time. Writers are editors’ eyes and ears on the front lines, keeping tabs on what’s happening out in the world to come up with interesting, relevant stories. If you think of what editors and writers do as being different parts of the same enterprise, you’ll have more appreciation for what the other does, and it’ll show in your working relationships.

3. If you’re a writer, think like an editor. Editors keep track of multiple details for multiple projects for multiple issues simultaneously. Some go so far as to use Excel spreadsheets or project management apps to keep things straight. If you’re a writer, you can help them and yourself by thinking like an editor. Don’t turn in stories until you’ve gone over them with the eyes of a copyeditor. If you’re responsible for turning in elements that run with the story such as headlines, decks, inks, file art, sidebars, subheads, etc., send everything with your original draft – along with your invoice – instead of waiting for an editor to remind you. If you have aspirations to work as an editor, being organized about those types of details is good practice, gets you noticed, and it could pay off if you ever want to ask for a recommendation.

4. If you’re an editor, think like a writer. As an editor, if you say yes to a query, talk through what your expectations are of the writer and for the story at the very beginning so everyone’s expectations are the same. Because of their status, editors often have access to people and information writers might not. Sharing that information with a writer could help them with a story they’re working on, which helps you in the long run.

5. Be considerate in all your business relationships. I write a lot about workplace issues and in the last couple months have done a few pieces of employee rewards and recognition programs. My take away – you don’t have to give people money or stuff to make them feel good about doing their job, or about working with you. A small amount of courtesy goes a long way – an email to say thanks for an assignment, or a Twitter status update on how awesome someone is to work with. When the holidays roll around, you don’t necessarily need to send gifts to editors you work for – though last Christmas I did send something small to editors I’d worked with over the year.

Do you work as an editor and writer? What advice do you have for getting along in a flatter media world?

While I’m away from my keyboard this week, I’m re-running a few posts that didn’t get the attention – or web traffic – they deserved the first time around. I’ll return with fresh insights on the business of writing next week. – Michelle Rafter

Rewrites aren’t one of my list of favorite work-related activities. In fact, I hate them, especially when an editor sits on something for a couple weeks then ships it back with questions. I want to scream, “That was so five stories ago!”

But rewrites are a fact of the writing life. So it’s a good idea to come to grips with the fact that if you freelance, you’ll have to do rewrites occasionally, if not on a regular basis.

The best way to ward off rewrites it to turn in your best effort the first go around. That means understanding exactly what the editor is looking for – even if it means asking what seems like an insane number of questions ahead of time. Then do all the research the story requires, hit all the marks in your writing, check your story for spelling, grammar, typos, cliches, transitions and flow. I always tack on a headline and deck, and if the format calls for it, subheads, charts and graphs. The more you can do on the front end to avoid working on a story after the fact the better.

But sometimes rewrites happen despite your best efforts. Here are some other techniques I use to handle them:

Plunge in. Don’t think about it, don’t get mad, don’t delay, just get it over with as fast as possible. It’s like ripping off a bandage – it’s got to be done, so might as well do it fast.

Focus on one question at a time. if an editor sends something back with five questions that need to be answered or facts to be added, mentally break them down into discrete tasks and attack them one by one. I’m a huge to-do list person, anyway, so by breaking the job into bite-size elements I feel good about knocking them off one after the other.

Pick up the phone. As much as I don’t want to, sometimes I have to pick up the phone and re-interview a source to confirm something or answer a question from an editor that I just didn’t have an answer for from my original interview. This situation happened to me recently, and if I hadn’t called to follow up on an editor’s question I would never have talked to the company executive who told me about some pending contracts, which may turn into a news story I could pitch to a magazine I’ve just started writing for. That’d definitely make me look good to my new editor.

Turn it into a opportunity. If you’ve got to do a rewrite anyway, take the chance to re-read your story and tweak an awkward phrase here or a bad transition there that you might not have noticed before.

Sleep on it. Sometimes the repair work isn’t as bad as you thought. If you’re not on a deadline, leave a rewrite until the next day, then attack it with fresh eyes.

Some editors we love. Some editors we love to hate.

The latest example is Entrepreneur Magazine Editor in Chief Amy Cosper, whom recently fired staff writer Dennis Romero excoriated in a 4,000-plus word diatribe published on his blog earlier this week. Among other things, Romero accuses Cosper of practicing such a hands-off editorial style she barely made assignments, read copy or kept tabs on what her staff was doing. “She didn’t give us deadlines! Ever!” Romero writes – frankly, I know some freelancers who wouldn’t mind the no deadlines part.

Romero’s plight reminds me of other editors we love to hate.

Devil Wears Prada – Lauren Weisberger’s roman a clef was a chick-lit bon bon before taking off on the silver screen, with Ann Hathaway playing editorial assistant Andrea working in indentured servitude to Meryl Streep’s witchy Miranda Priestly, a chic stand in for Vogue EIC Anna Wintour.

“And-re-ah,” she called from her starkly furnished, deliberately cold office. “Where are the car and the puppy?”

I leaped out of my seat and ran as fast as was possible on plush carpeting while wearing five-inch heels and stood before her desk. “I left the car with the garage attendant and Madelaine with your doorman, Miranda,” I said, proud to have completed both tasks without killing the car, the dog, or myself.

“And why would you do something like that?” she snarled, looking up from her copy of Women’s Wear Daily for the first time since I’d walked in. “I specifically requested that you bring both of them to the office, since the girls will be here momentarily and we need to leave.”

“Oh, well, actually, I thought you said that you wanted them to–”

“Enough. The details of your incompetence interest me very little. Go get the car and the puppy and bring them here. I’m expecting we’ll be all ready to leave in fifteen minutes. Understood?”

WriteSideOut blogger Bonnie Boot celebrates’ writers’ love-hate relationships with editors in her Editors are Evil Writing Contest. An excerpt from Charlotte Bennardo’s winning entry:

Dear Editor,
I have your cat.
What, no contract?
To Chow Yung Fat,
I take your cat.
Oh, change your mind?
Your cat you’ll find
Once contract signed,
and deal we bind.
Refuse to deal?
A tasty meal
Cat’s fate you’ll seal
I swear, for real.

Mother Jones’ Kevin Drum recently reminded readers in post called From the Annals of Bad Editors that Flowers for Algernon writer Daniel Keyes went through editors at six publishers before finding one that didn’t want to change the ending of his novel so Charlie stays smart and lives happily ever after.

Earlier this year, Colorado writer Dan Baum used Twitter to write about his love-hate relationship with The New Yorker and Editor David Remnick, though in all honesty, that seemed to be more of a personality mismatch and confluence of unfortunately circumstances than an out and out evil editor situation.

Of course, some editors we love because they’re so good – and you know who you are. They’re the ones we go out of our way to pitch to, turn assignments in early for and pray will turn into steady clients.

Got your own evil editor stories? Do share.

Given what’s happening in the media business, freelancers can’t afford to cultivate an exclusive relationship with one newspaper or magazine.

Actually, an exclusive relationship would be sweet – think of all those letters of introduction you’d avoid having to do and the time you’d save.

But unless you’re under contract at The New Yorker – and even that doesn’t work out so well for everybody - a single publication doesn’t have enough work to keep someone busy 100 percent of the time, leaving writers to cobble together a livelihood by taking assignments from any number of sources.

That can be a problem when publications have policies over what writing on similar topics freelancers they work with can or can’t do for competing publications.

Writers, of course, want the opportunity to pursue as many markets as possible: the bigger the pool, the more likely someone will bite.

Publications on the other hand, don’t want a freelancer they work with to do a killer story on a topic said writer usually covers for them for their arch rival.

Publications address this in different ways. Some put “category exclusivity” clauses in contracts barring a freelancer from writing anything else on the same topic for any of their major competitors for a specified period, often 60 or 90 days. Many category exclusivity contracts list the competitors, so everyone’s clear on who’s off limits. Here’s the exclusivity clause included in the contract Inc. uses:

Notwithstanding anything contained in this Agreement to the contrary, Author shall not permit the Work to be published in any other business, financial, or new economy magazine, including, without limitation, Fortune, Forbes, Business Week, Wired, Portfolio, or Harvard Business Review, or on any business, financial, or new economy Web site not owned in whole or in substantial part, or operated by or on behalf of, Publisher.

If a magazine or Website likes a writer enough, they may sign them to a contributing writer contract and pay them a retainer for filing a set number of words or stories per month. I’ve had such arrangements before, and if anybody wants to work out the same kind of deal with me again, please call. All joking aside, such arrangements commonly include a list of competing magazines the contributor agrees not to pitch while under contract.

Some magazines take a less formal approach, relying on a writer’s word that while they’re writing for the publication they aren’t going to simultaneously work on a story on the same topic for the publication’s biggest rival. I’m a contributing editor at one trade magazine and have discussed with the editor which magazines they view as direct competitors so I could avoid pitching anything to them. While I’m not bound by a contract, I value my relationship with this publication too much to do anything to mess with it, especially since they’re by far the best written, best edited, and best run, title in their industry.

Some magazine’s exclusivity clauses are pretty onerous, especially if you specialize on a certain topic. But just because it’s there doesn’t mean it’s set in stone. I’ve successfully negotiated very broad contract language regarding category exclusivity, changing it to specify a certain take on the story I’m doing for the publication, not on the topic in general.

I’ve also successfully negotiated changes to contract language that would have restricted my ability to blog about topics I also write about. One of the reasons I got into blogging in the first place was to get up to speed on topics I want to write about, so I’m not going to agree to limit what I can blog about for anybody.

You’d think that with things as bad as they are for magazines and newspapers, publishers would be less heavy-handed when it comes to category exclusivity clauses in contracts. Even they have to see freelancers can’t make it writing for one publication alone. Until they do, don’t be intimated by what’s on the printed page. You can negotiate better deals for yourself.

A friend who sells medical supplies takes a pragmatic approach to rejection. When a company says no to what she’s selling, she brushes it off and moves onto the next prospect. “In my personal life I can’t handle that kind of rejection, but at work it doesn’t bother me,” she says. “It’s just business.”

Writers deal with rejection all the time. But when a magazine editor says no to a query or kills a story, how many of us brush it off as easily as my saleswoman friend?

Rejection has been the topic du jour since Dan Baum wrote about his 2007 firing from The New Yorker in 140 character installments on Twitter a few days ago and then reassembled it as a whole piece on his website.

Not only was Baum fired by New Yorker editor David Remnick, he had five stories killed in the three-plus years he was a staff writer. Given the standing of The New Yorker in the American publishing industry, that’s rejection on an epic scale.

After reading Baum’s explanations of why he was fired and why the stories were killed, the whole episode seems less an edict on Baum’s abilities and more a confluence of unfortunate events and personality mismatch with a little bad decision making thrown in for good measure.

For example, in 2004, Baum wrote a story about how Florida was preparing for the presidential election that was killed over concerns about reporter bias after he mentioned to an editor he’d spent an afternoon distributing Kerry literature. A 2004 story about geneticists was killed after editors decided it was too similar to one by Malcolm Gladwell that had appeared in the magazine eight years earlier. A story on U.S. Special Forces troops training the Philippine army to fight terrorists never ran, according to Baum, because editors let it sit for months then killed it after a competitor ran a piece on a similar topic.

Baum wants it to be known that his explanations, which are posted on his website along with the complete manuscripts of all the killed stories, are only his own, how the killing of these stories looked to him at the time. He allows that he could be all wrong, that the stories were killed because they simply were no good.

What Baum’s explanations show me is that sometimes, it’s not you, it’s them. As a writer you can hit all the marks – write the perfect query or turn in exactly what you were assigned, – and still be rejected because circumstances have changed, the editors changed their minds, or when all is said and done, they’re just not that into you. Another great example of this is William Georgiades’ 2004 Mediabistro piece on his dealing with a Conde Nast editor over an ill-fated travel piece.

The moral of the story: Even though writing is a creative process, it’s still a business. The sooner freelancers come to terms with that, the easier it is to put rejection in its place, and like my saleswoman friend, move onto the next prospect.

According to Baum, he decided to come clean about his New Yorker experience after being asked about it at readings for Nine Lives, his book about post-Katrina New Orleans that debuted in February. You can read more about Baum, the book and his New Yorker days in a recent interview with the Colorado Springs Independent.

You can read more of what people are saying about how Baum used Twitter to tell his New Yorker saga in Gawker’s take on the story.

Not all rejections are bad. In fact, some are worth celebrating, according to Tim Beyers, a Denver freelance writer for Motley Fool and host of the weekly #editorchat session on Twitter, in a post called A word about rejection: dude. Beyers writes: “One I received last month from a national publication included this note from the editor: ‘You’re a good writer, and I wish you all the best.’ I think she means it. Or at least that’s what I’m telling myself these days.”

To deconstruct other reasons magazines turn down writers’ queries, read Susan Johnston’s blog post on The Urban Muse, called 15 reasons your idea got rejected.

Social networks like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn have created all kinds of new work-related etiquette questions:

Is it OK to post a link to that killer story you wrote for Ladies Home Journal on Twitter more than once – an hour?

Does memorizing the LinkedIn profile of an editor you’d like to pitch constitute stalking?

Is it OK to friend your editor on Facebook?

All humor aside, since social networks have become such an integral part of freelancers’ daily work life, it’s easy to forget some people – including editors – still use them just for fun.

When it comes to social networks, it’s important to look before you leap. And when it comes to connecting with editors or potential editors, that means looking at how they’re using social networks and acting accordingly. If an editor you’re dying to work for is on Facebook but only uses it for friends and family, don’t go there. But if the same editor is on LinkedIn and has specifically listed “Career opportunities,” “Job inquiries” or “Getting back in touch” in their LinkedIn profile, it’s a clear sign to use the service to introduce yourself.

Linda Formichelli has lots more to say about this in a post called Connecting with editors on social media on The Renegade Writer blog for freelancers. If you read closely you’ll see yours truly is one of the writers interviewed in the piece.

Right now the freelance market is crammed with laid off writers, editors and other creative types trying their hand at self employment.

With so much supply, it’s important to stand out. One way to do that is by offering some added value to work you perform for existing and new clients.

What’s added value? It’s some extra bang for the bucks you’re getting paid. It could be as simple as meeting deadlines or being pleasant and easy to work with – OK, sometimes that’s not so simple, but you get the idea.

Added value can be other things too. Here are 5 easy ways to add value to your freelance business – and 1 harder one, in case you’re up to the challenge.

1. Suggest art. Some magazine editors require this, especially if they’re small or trade publications. Beat them to the punch by including suggestions for photos or graphics in your pitch. As you do interviews, ask sources or their PR reps to forward art to you or directly to the editor or art director – they might not use it, but it’s there if they want it.

2. Include art in pitches. Rather than just collect art, offer to provide your own. If you can shoot photos or create charts, graphs or PowerPoint slides, say so in your pitch. And don’t forget to bump up your fee accordingly. Any news operation with a Website is interested in these kinds of extras.

3. Turn things in early. I have a Website client I write stories for every month. Stories as well as pitches for the following month’s work are always due around the 20th of the month. I shoot to file stories a couple days before the deadline and sometimes up to a week before so my editor isn’t slammed with copy she has to deal with at the last minute. Ditto for pitches. I know she appreciates it because even after her freelance budget got cut she’s still sending assignments my way.

4. Accommodate special requests.  Be flexible. Agree to a shorter or longer word counts or deadlines if something on the publication’s end changes. Yes, you may end up making less on an assignment, then again you may end up making more because they’re paying extra for a rush job or because they’ll now remember you as that can-do writer and say “yes” to your next pitch. Two editors at a trade magazine I regularly write for turned to me recently when other freelancers fell through. In one case, the original writer on a story had too many commitments and bailed so the editors offered it to me – I immediately said yes. In the other case, a different freelancer was late filing a piece for a certain section but I’d filed a piece for the same section earlier than my deadline, so they used it first.

5. Treat editors like friends. In some cases they are. In others, I try to cultivate a friendly working relationship so they’ll think of me as being low-maintenance and send work my way. I forward information to editors if I think it’s something they’d be interested in (but never chain email). I write LinkedIn recommendations if they ask – and if I honestly have something good to say. After all, they’re just as anxious as we are about the job market these days.

There are more difficult ways to add value too. With so much work moving online, you can add value to your writing by learning SEO basics, HTML, Photoshop, InDesign, blogging, podcasting or other multimedia skills that add dimension to your storytelling, and your portfolio. This added value is harder to attain because it’s not something you can just do – you may have to take a Webinar or class. But if that’s what it takes to help you stand out in a crowd, it’s worth it.

What are extras you offer clients to set yourself apart from the competition?

* Leave a job and contact you from the next one – with assignments and higher per-word rate.

* Tell you they’re reining in freelance budgets due to the economy but are keeping you on their freelance short list.

* Reward one fast-turnaround assignment with two more – in as many weeks.

* Freelance for multiple publications and reject a pitch for one magazine but decide it’d be great for another.

* Understand times are tough and work out deals with their own bosses to assign you a set amount of work per month.

* Are working on a new publication launch and ask you to write the cover, if and when the time comes.

* Tell you to pick up the phone and call them if you have questions.

* Pick up the phone and call you if they have questions.

* Say they’ll write a recommendation for you on LinkedIn and write it the same day.

While I’m on vacation this week, I’ll be rerunning some of the best WordCount posts of the year. Look for new posts, including my predictions for the top digital media personalities to watch in 2009, starting January 5. Happy New Year!

Today’s reruns: Make yourself so irresistible editors will fight over you.

What editors want from freelance writers – and how to give it to them

Good assignments start with good editors – here’s how to spot them

Be a team player if you want to write for trade magazines

Freelance mistakes to avoid at all costs

You may be desperate for work, just don’t act like it

True confessions – Do you tell editors what you do when you’re not working for them?

MIT Sloan Management Review: Good freelancers are ‘nanobots’ and that’s no insult