Making the move: Newspaper to magazine

Thanks to everyone for their replies, both here and in PM. It really means alot.

I will be making my decision soon and will update the thread for those interested.

 

It sounds more like he will be rolling the dice if he DOESN'T go or it. I have had opportunities to leave my paper, but didn't for various reasons, pay, hours, a big move for my family. My only advice is to figure out exactly what you want out of your job. You don' have to move and salary isn't an issue, and it sounds like they were seeking you out, so you have a bit of bargaining power. I say it makes sense on the surface, but I've never worked at a magazine, so take it for what it's worth. Good luck!

 

I wrote for a magazine for about a year and a half and this was a big struggle for me. I covered a college team in the NCAA hoops tournament, and I hated that I couldn't write some in-the-moment stories when that team won a few games to get to the Sweet 16. Our next magazine didn't come out for a few weeks after the tourney, after they had lost out. Totally changes your perspective, and some of that energy gets lost -- kind of like writing for a weekly newspaper when a team wins a playoff game and then loses before the next edition is out ...

 

Well, we're waiting ...

 

Take it.

 

Absolutely, take it. (Or pass it along to me!)

 

If it's a local/city/regional mag, one thing to be aware of is that a lot more companies are getting into the game. The local daily either has or will soon have a local upscale mag as part of its niche products. Where I live there are at least four mags devoted to the area. They all pretty much blow, but that's beside the point. They can't all survive by running the same kind of fluff aimed at rich people, so the security may not be as good as they think. With newspaper companies getting into the game, they can offer advertisers combo buys, so my money would be on theirs outlasting the indy local mags, even the longer-established one.

 

I thought I'd really miss daily work.
And I do, a little, mostly as Jones said about the time lag.
The trade-off, more time to report and write. Having a life, no nights, no weekends. My pay is better. I think I'd have real trouble going back to daily work.
But you do have to get used to a different level of editing.
I have a fact-checker now.

 

There are scads of newspaper writers who wish they were writing for a magazine. So, this is probably a gig plenty of other people would want to have and a job of the sort that isn't always easy to get.

So, if you're one of those people who has longed for easier hours and the opportunity to do more longer-form writing, jump all over this.

 

A conversation I recently had with my (only ever been in newspapers) editor:

Editor: Ya know, ____(name of recently departed beat writer) is now working in a 9 to 5 job and that person is loving it.
Me: Yeah because ____ now has a night life and a life on the weekends.
Editor: Why would ____ want that?
Me: Um, well, once you work in a 9-to-5 job, then you'll understand.
Editor: I guess so.

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I couldn't agree with Jones, FHack and HHenry. There are definite pros and cons to both and it depends on where your priorities are - do you want a more stable social life or do you thrive on breaking news every day?

 

Ms Wrtr,

Who says that breaking news in a magazine is against the rules? It's satisfying when you can do it and defeat lead time. Sorta like Vulcan sex. You have to wait years but it's intense. And as for "breaking news every day," I think the guy who has broken more big stories over the last two years--Sy Hersch--works at a weekly and files every three or four months.

YHS, etc

 

I work at a magazine now after 12+ years at daily newspapers. It's kind of a hybrid gig...I edit and report for an on-line newsletter in the morning and I do one or two decent sized stories for the mag (which comes out every two weeks). Plus, every now and then, I'll send an update in the middle of the afternoon if some news breaks.
In some ways, it's kind of almost like being at a daily paper. You've got to check on certain things every day and there's deadline pressure. That's kind of made the transition easy for me because there's a lot of action. The thing I have problems with is a nasty habit of dilly-dallying with magazine stories because of the extended deadlines. I spent my Labor Day writing one story and I've pulled all-nighters with others. I'm hoping I can kind of smooth it out (I've been there for less than 5 months). The working from 8-5 is nice, as is having weekends off. I do kind of miss not being around a big staff -- plus art is kind of a pain in the ass because we have freelance photogs...as soon as you pitch a story, you've got to line up the freakin' art. Never mind the fact that I haven't done interview one yet....