What a disturbing pattern: entry-level labor being converted left and right into unpaid internships. The recession only makes it worse. Pretty soon they’ll be assigning assistant editor duties to interns. Maybe if you get lucky, they’ll throw in a travel stipend! :p
What gloomy prospects. Is there any good news left for the publishing industry?
Sorry to be Debbie Downer, it was just on my mind. (It’s not just this industry btw - plenty of companies in unrelated fields are recruiting interns to do what was once performed by entry-level upstarts). As long as there are those desperate enough to work for free (with no promise of eventual reciprocation or employment), this will continue. But it’s hard to justify, it really is.
I’ve been temping since
I’ve been temping since the start of the summer and there’s hardly any work there because companies have unpaid interns to fill in rather than pay the temp agencies…
And i agree, job hunting right now sucks. I swear book publishing has just become a game of rearranging deck chairs with all the EA’s just switching houses, going to different departments or taking on assistant duties at literary agencies because i always get told that “we went with someone who has actually worked (as opposed to interned) at a publishing house/literary agency.”
Scary!
As a former EA who got laid off and took up a paid (minimally) internship to get experience at a huge magazine, I’m beginning to think that I might never actually become an editor.
So what can we do? It’s
So what can we do?
It’s obvious that the intern/magazine relationship is symbiotic -but we can’t ask mags to hire more people and increase overhead and risk closing the pub altogether.
Without any real solution in mind, I can’t help but wonder why Intern Hiring Managers won’t pay a stipend - it will certainly attract the pool of applicants they are saying are so lacking this semester. With a full page ad in Vogue going for $85K, and about 800 pages of advertising in the last issue alone (that’s close to $7 Million in ad sales for one issue), I’m pretty sure there’s room SOMEwhere in the editorial budget to offer a minimal stipend to hard-working and deserving interns.
Just a thought…
My problem is that even with
My problem is that even with all the interns many are picking up (or wanting to), they won’t hire those of us who have already graduated.
I’d love to intern on a mag for one of the majors, but the ones I want only take current students.
They really need to broaden that.
I totally agree!
I totally agree with you statement. I just go back from London doing “work experience” at a publishing house. You see over in the UK magazines and other businesses offer “work experience” for recent grads to help them gain some experience. The US needs this “work experience” for us recent grads would want to intern with these major magazines without having to get credit for it.
sad but true
Wow, I thought I was the only one who noticed. At the magazine I work at there are only 3 actual paid staff members, one is the EIC, one is the publisher and the other is the graphic designer - everyone else is an intern, and we do pretty much everything from running small errands, to driving all the way to the bindery to pick up the magazine to distributing the magazine to writing articles, acquiring high res images, writing cover blurbs, interviewing actors and everyone else, and anything else they can throw our way. It’s a full time job that we don’t get paid for even though we do everything. Yeah, we’re getting experience, but when will we finally get paid??? Needless to say our managing editor was recently fired so that they could cut costs. It really is hard to justify. One day an editor might be an intern, too, just for the “experience.”
Yea, tell me about it.
The magazine industry is a tough one. Luckily, I was able to do a bit of feature writing for a local newspaper or my bills would never be paid. In the meantime, I also did a temporary gig at a newspaper’s website. Try looking at places like nj.com for temp. producing jobs. You learn html and get to provide a lot of the entertainment/fashion/extra news that newspapers alone can’t cover. Just a thought.
That’s really disturbing;
That’s really disturbing; especially when you said, “One day an editor might be an intern, too, just for the ‘experience’.”
Breaking Into Freelance
I graduated college in 2005 with a BA in English and Philosophy. I’ve had a few freelance jobs and local newspaper and magazine gigs; proofreading, reporting, interviews, etc. I’ve also done three or four proofreading projects for book publishing companies, mostly nonfiction novels and memoirs.
I am also a published writer; in addition to writing for local newspapers and magazines, my memoir has been published in a college Racism and Sexism textbook.
I am looking for ANY freelance proofreading/copyediting work I can do from home. I am also looking for a full-time, in office job as a proofreader, copyeditor or editorial assistant.
Does anyone have any links to companies that are looking for telecommuting proofreaders? Or any entry-level in-office openings in the NJ/NYC area?
I will be forever grateful—and even buy you dinner—if you give me a lead that gets me a job! Thanks!
j.sinclair1982@yahoo.com
Why is it that all in-office jobs are looking for someone with experience, but no one will take the leap of faith and give you that first office experience?
Also, is it appropriate or tacky to bring copies of my resume to Ed’s Happy Hour in NYC on September 15th?
It sucks, but unfortunately,
It sucks, but unfortunately, I gotta do it.
Right now I’m interning at a pretty big online mag, whose content is basically all contributor-based. There are probably a few staff writers, but mostly, they’re interns, I think.
That website has a small sister publication that I sometimes write for, and sometimes edit for. I was glad to got the editing responsibilities, but at first thought it was kind of weird. I guess since the latter publication is small, they can’t afford to hire copy editors?
I don’t know. Like I said, it’s weird, and for some, it’s unfair, but you do what you gotta do.
Only if it pays off
Only if it pays off in the long run is it worth it. Otherwise, it literally is an exercise in futility. Ours is the first generation where highly-skilled slave labor is endorsed, and even promoted. Our parents wouldn’t have stood for it. It also is unfortunate that every “cool” publication out there now is run by other young people. Internships in their eyes are an essential part of the initiation process; the indignities of interning don’t seem so irrational once you’ve survived it yourself and already moved onto a real paycheck. So, they take a perverse glee in continuing to force smart writers into an an empty and unsustainable lifestyle. Working for nothing in an industry that valorizes personal worth through access to luxury is especially damning. Fashion publications aren’t the only ones at fault, though. Even some cooking magazines are probably pulling the same scam.
At this point, I don’t
At this point, I don’t know if it’s worth it yet. It’s my first internship; the only one I can get since I’m not in NY yet, but rather, in Seattle.
I do hope that when I go to NY to transfer, it will hold some credibility. I love that I get to do a TON of writing, and they’re good. So, at this point, it’s just fingers crossed.
And I have realized that fashion mags are not the only ones doing this. Thank God I have a backup plan in case this mag plan doesn’t pan out.
I couldn’t agree more. I
I couldn’t agree more. I am getting so fed up of interns being asked to take on the role of EAs and even AEs, unpaid. It’s happening more and more.
I actually just noticed today in FSB, the Managing Ed’s letter in the front pretty much says that a lot of new bylines belong to the magazine’s new interns, and then goes on to name seven of those interns. Considering that this magazine has a very small staff… Seven interns seems like a bit much, no? Especially since there was a NY Post article back in July that the magazine “axed” 14 of its 17 editorial staffers (http://www.nypost.com/seven/07302008/business/losing_a_small_fortune_122…).
So essentially, they were replaced by Interns… Isn’t that just simply wonderful? What amazes me is that magazines these days flaunt that they’re hiring more and more unpaid interns. Um, that’s not something to advertise people! Sort of morally wrong, don’t you think?
For me, among the most
For me, among the most insulting examples are the “freelance editorial internships”. Basically, a demanding freelance writing gig for no pay. Preposterous. It’s completely criminal.
I agree!
I’m basically an associate fashion editor at the moment since I’m fulfilling all the responsibilities of the position, but doing so as an unpaid, full time fashion intern. Obviously the experience is great, but the lack of pay is not.
I’ve also noticed a lot of
I’ve also noticed a lot of the assistant and associate editor positions that I’ve been applying to are temp or freelance.
Freeze....
There’s a hiring freeze going on. Most of the jobs say they are temp. or freelance because some mags technically can’t hire anyone new right now. I’d say, just apply to these internships and “freelance” jobs, do a good job, and then hope that you will be considered for a real job once the freeze is done.