Performing CPR: When Your Story Gets Killed

            It’s happened to just about every freelancer I know. You got the assignment. You researched the piece, wrote it to your editor’s specifications, and turned it in on deadline. A week or two later, the editor requested a rewrite, or maybe two. But the end result was unexpected, and undesired. Your piece got killed.

            What’s next? How do you perform CPR to a dead story?

            First, ask why. Having a story killed is unfair. At least it feels that way. But be honest with yourself. Did you give the editor what she asked for? Did you follow her the terms of the assignment, or was yourstory subpar? If you dropped the ball, admit it. Offer to rewrite the piece if you haven’t already--better to collect the full fee for an assignment, and have it run, than a kill fee. (Kill fee provisions vary but the idea is that they pay you a percentage of the assignment--often one-quarter to one-third of the original fee--and rights revert back to you.)

            If you didn’t, well, it’s okay to be angry--especially when the piece was killed through no fault of your own. Stories are killed for unfair and nebulous reasons. Some editors routinely over-assign and then kill the stories they decide they don’t want. Sometimes your assigning editor leaves the magazines, “orphaning” your piece. His successor may decide to go in a new direction, and kill stories assigned by his predecessor. (This has happened to me several times at three different magazines.) 

            Sometimes an editor sits on a piece too long and then decides it’s no longer timely. (That’s happened, too.) Sometimes the editor changes her mind about what she wants, or her higher-up does. Sometimes they both do. You can’t control any of these scenarios but you can ask that the editor pay the full fee.

            While a kill fee provision is created to protect the writer (you get paid at least a little for your work), it shouldn’t be used without good reason. If you met the story specs, you should get paid the full fee, and I’ve argued this point (and know other writers who have as well). Alas, editors almost always fall back on the kill fee clause and refuse to pay the full fee.

            Now what? Pitch the piece elsewhere. Don’t tell the editor you’re querying that it was written and assigned and killed by someone else, possibly one of her competitors (even though you may want to!). Just pitch the piece as if you just came up with the idea, and see if another editor will bite. If so, you may be able to sell the piece you already wrote. If you do have to write a different piece, don’t be afraid to pull from your earlier research; when a publication kills a piece, all rights to it revert to you.

            Ideally you’ll be able to sell the piece to another market and negotiate a better deal for your story. I’ve had about a dozen stories killed over 15 years and managed to resell all but one to other markets, which meant that I made up for the lost fee--and even made more for several stories, which meant that being killed actually boosted my pay!

            Even if you can’t don’t take a piece being killed as a personal attack. If you know you did a good job and met the terms of the assignment, chalk it up as bad luck--and consider whether you want to work with that particular editor again. 

            ****This post was drawn from Secret 38, Perform CPR, from Writer for Hire: 101 Secrets to Freelance Success. And don't forget that my series of Kindle e-books for freelancers are still available for only $2.99 for a limited time. Dollars and Deadlines' Guide to Selling your First Article gives you a simple blueprint to follow to break into print or pixels, and Dollars and Deadlines' 10 Essential Freelance Templates provides you with the 10 documents you need to start freelancing. 

   

What to do When: Your Story Gets Killed

You got the assignment. You slaved over your piece, turned it in on time, and your editor responded with the dreaded phrase, “You’ve got a great start, but…”

So, you revised the piece to the editor’s specifications, or so you thought. But now, for reasons beyond your control, the story has been killed. What do you do?

First off, welcome to the club. I don't know of any longtime freelancer who hasn't had at least one piece killed. Sometimes the story you write isn't what the editor decides she wants--or the story her boss wants. Sometimes the editor who assigned the piece leaves the magazine, leaving the piece "orphaned." Sometimes the editor decides the piece is no longer timely, and no longer wants it. Regardless of the reason, your piece has been killed.

Years ago, I had two stories—$2,800 worth of work—killed during a regime change at a national fitness magazine. The editor who had assigned the pieces had left along with other staffers. Now the new editor-in-chief seemed determined to get rid of anything that had been assigned by her predecessor. My stories--which were already finished--got caught in the middle.

I argued that I should be paid the full fee, not the 25% kill fee the contract paid for. After all, there was nothing wrong with the stories themselves--it was simply an arbitrary decision on the part of the new EIC not to use them. But the editors at the magazine refused to pay me the full amount, opting for the kill fee provision. I was...well, way more than peeved.

After I cooled off, I thought about how to make the best of a sucky situation. I called an editor I’d worked with at another fitness magazine. I told her I had two great story ideas to pitch her, and sold both of them in five minutes. (I wish all my ideas sold so quickly.)

Did I tell her that they’d just been killed by one of her competitors? Nope. When she asked what kind of deadline I needed, did I say “Oh, about five minutes?” Absolutely not. I turned in one piece two weeks later, the next piece the week after that. My editor loved both, and accepted them. She paid me $1,750 for the stories—which, combined with the $700 kill fee, left me only $350 in the hole on the deal. (And that's not counting the reprints I made on both pieces after they first came out.) That was a much smarter decisoin than if I would have simply accepted the kill fee and let the stories languish on my hard drive.

Bottom line: a story getting killed doesn’t mean your work is substandard or that you can’t hack it as a writer. Every freelancer will face this issue at one time or another. It’s how you respond to them that matters.

For more smart advice about how to address freelancing challenges, check out Six-Figure Freelancing: The Writer's Guide to Making More Money, or Ready, Aim, Specialize! Create your own Writing Specialty and Make More Money.