ADVICE TO YOUNG JOURNALISTS
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,—In an article under the above heading in the Spectator, applauding the work of the. London School of Journalism, Mr. Denis Gwynn asks the question—" What, in fact, is the market for free-lance contributions ? " This question has often been put to me before and frequently answered. I remember being challenged once upon the score that very few free-lance writers made even three hundred pounds a year. Lord Northcliffe kindly caused the books of the Amalgamated Press to be examined for me, when we dis- coVered that there were some hundreds of authors making more than £500 a year as free-lances, and quite a considerable number earning £1,200 a year.
The unfortunate thing is that free-lance journalism is often considered only in the terms of the daily newspaper. People say that this or that daily journal does not take more than half-a-dozen articles a week from outsiders. The- correct number possibly would be more than twenty—but that is of little moment. The. plain fact is that we must consider the subject as much in the terms of, say, the Fortnightly Review as of such popular journals as Answers and Tit-Bits. If this be done, there must be many hundreds of writers, either adding substantially to their incomes or making very good livings as free-lances. We have only to remember that one newspaper organization publishes more than one hundred periodicals a week to realize the numerous openings for free-
lance work it affords.
As regards the earnings of students of the London School of Journalism, there is abundant testimony in its corre- spondence files. It is not permissible to quote from them here, but they arc at the disposal of any interested inquirers.
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