The Freelancer Dilemma

Many Edsters end up freelancing, whether by circumstance brought on by the job hunt or by choice brought on by dreams of becoming the next Carrie Bradshaw.

But according to a survey released last month by the New York-based Freelancers Union, about 40% of freelancers had trouble getting paid in 2009. The average amount due? $6,000. And with national unemployment still around 9.7%, it's not like freelancers can just fall back on getting a job.

Are You Pleased with the ASME Awards?

The Ellies are in! I doubt many were surprised that New York magazine took home the most awards (4) Thursday night, including victories for general excellence (250,000 to 500,000 circulation), magazine section, personal service and leisure interests.

Si Newhouse must be doing something right, since Condé was the other big winner of the night: Glamour won the top honor, Magazine of the Year, a new category introduced this year that "honors publications that successfully use both print and digital media in fulfilling the editorial mission of the magazine."

Other Condé winners included long-time victors National Geographic (3), The New Yorker (3) and Wired (2).

See the full list of winners after the jump.

What is People StyleWatch's Secret?

Time Inc. has a goldmine on its hands. Surprisingly, the magazine with merchandise on its cover is topping both circ and ad numbers when most of the industry is falling behind. According to the NYT, "in the second half of last year, StyleWatch’s circulation rose 8.6 percent, to about 802,000, as the industry average dropped 2.2 percent. [...] StyleWatch increased its pages by more than 24 percent, to 629 pages. In the first quarter, consumer magazines lost 9.4 percent of their ad pages on average, but StyleWatch’s grew by about 130 percent, and the magazine is profitable."

Ed breaks down the reasons for its success after the jump! 

Will the iPad Save the Magazine Industry?

With its sleek design and cool page-turning features, the iPad has been pegged as possibly saving journalism and publishing in one fell swoop. And by selling an estimated double of the predicted amount last weekend, the iPad seems well on its way.

Many magazines are eager to jump on the bandwagon, with Condé Nast titles like Vanity Fair, Wired, and GQ are rumored to be working on an app, while magazines like Interview, Time, Men's Health, and Popular Science already exist for purchase. But this is where Ed begins to have his doubts.

Are your unpaid interns illegal?

Given the lack of paid internships and the overwhelming amount of aspiring magazine editors, Ed can pretty much bet that every whippersnapper has had at least one unpaid internship. In fact, sometimes it seems that media wouldn't be able to survive without a bevvy of unpaid interns to transcribe, research, report, write, photocopy, and sometimes make a coffee run.

But it turns out unpaid internships may be illegal. According to the NYT, "when the jobs are mostly drudgery, regulators say, it is clearly illegal not to pay interns." States like California and Oregon have already begun fining employers for violating the law. (Ed gave his own two cents on the topic in an Ask Ed years ago). But now the federal government plans on cracking down on what many people consider to be 21st century slave labor. Even internships with college credit are not exempt.

Former Condé Nast EICs Turning to Web

Ed already told you about Brandon Holley's post Condé life as the online editor of Yahoo! Shine. It turns out she's not the only former print EIC to transition to web.

According to the New York Observer, Pilar Guzman—the popular editor of the parenting magazine Cookie (which folded in October), is creating web site momfilter.com—a lifestyle site for the modern mom to be launched in the fall.

Deborah Needleman, the editor of Domino, which folded in January 2009, told the Observer that she’s working on her site with  Ken Lerer, the chairman of the Huffington Post.

“It’s a commerce site—with a Domino-like sensibility—that makes it easy and pleasurable to decorate and shop for a home,” she wrote in an email to the Observer.

And though she doesn't have a site of her own, Ruth Reichl has been actively tweeting since Gourmet folded last October.

But before everyone starts frantically learning how to tweet and code in HTML, you should know that other EICs are taking the traditional route of writing books about their experiences. Reichl is planning to write a memoir of her Condé days, while Dominique Browning, former EIC of House & Garden, published a book about her post-EIC life that's due in May.

Are you surprised by this Edsters? How many of you work in print and how many of you work in online? Do you agree that you need web savvy even for a print job?