Trick or treat: 10 things that scare freelancers

In honor of Halloween, here are my list of the top 10 things that scare freelancers:

1. An empty mailbox – No checks for you!

2. A reply from an editor that arrives a minute after you sent in a pitch – Inevitably means “Thanks, but no thanks.”

3. Email to your favorite editor that bounces back with the message “Address can’t be found.” – Oops, looks like a layoff!

4. @themediaisdying and Mediabistro’s The Revolving Door newsletter – Twin harbingers of newspaper and magazine industry doom and gloom.

5. Content sites. ‘Nuf said.

6. Magazine editors who say they want you – But don’t have a freelance budget right now, could you do it anyway for free as a way to build a platform for your next book project?

7. Realizing you hit the “Reply to all” button instead of “Reply” on a snarky comment about a fat-head editor you intended to share only with a fellow writer that instead every staff writer and contributor is going to see.

8. Rewrites!

9. Answering questions an obviously newbie associate editor inserted into your text not because the story needs it but because she has no clue what you’re talking about and is too lazy look it up for herself.

10. Editing by committee – Wherein a story your immediate editor signed off on with nary a peep gets kicked back to you once, twice, three times from editors higher up the food chain with so many requests for revisions or “fresh” angles you no longer recognize it as your work.

Trick or treat everyone!