Is there any way to avoid a preps gig as your first job?

I had a very positive, supportive editor when I left newspapers, and she knew I had big dreams in the industry, and she really wanted that for me. But, I live in an exceptionally expensive place and already had one kid and, with my wife, we were crammed into a small 800 sq ft condo. So I got a chance at a trade publication, still "journalism," still writing, taking photos, and 2.5x the money.

My editor was really upset. "But your dreams..." I appreciate her sentiment. I really, really do. But I also had dreams of my daughter playing in a backyard instead of the parking lot in front of our place. I had dreams of being able to buy a house and take vacations, have another kid and be able to pay for their weddings and college. (Or help, anyway.) None of that was going to be possible making the peanuts newspapers were paying, and, with the state of the industry, there was no easy ladder to climb to get to where I was making a reasonable amount.

I covered a high school basketball game for the paper last week and I freaking loved it. What a rush. Man I miss it. But then I came home to our house and my now two little girls. I walked my oldest daughter to school in the morning and played in the snow in the backyard with her in the afternoon.

Point being, we can have more than one dream. We don't have to work for shit wages forever because "it's in our blood" or some bullshit. I'd love to go back to sports. Absolutely love it. But it's not a sustainable career for me right now, and I can't imagine it ever will be again.

 

I'm doing stats for one of the local high school teams. I still get to be on the sidelines. I get a to feel a little bit like part of the team. And I get to send stats and maybe a roundup to the newspaper.

But I get to do it all on my own terms, which is perfect. .... and I'm not counting on a newspaper to pay the bills.

Get out! While you still can!

 

When you get older, you start to realize that you dreams really have nothing to do with your occupation.

Most of the time, that’s what gets in the way of your dreams.

 

Sorry to threadjack but what's an example of a trade publication that pays well?

 

Don't personally know anyone who ever worked at one, but they have to pay more than the average newspaper, no?

 

You might get old enough and realize your 'dreams' are going to a holiday pageant or tee ball game, or holding a family/marriage together with anything that will stick.
The rest is just an appeal to vanity.
This guy's opinion.

 

Yep. And this is why there will always be a steady flow of people into the business, no matter how often you warn them.

When I was doing the high school newspaper journalism thing in the 80s -- going to workshops, talking to pros, "networking" before I had any idea what networking was -- every single person I talked to warned that the pay and hours sucked. I didn't care because money wasn't important to me -- I wanted to do something important that I loved... just like every idealistic teenager.

And then you graduate, work a few years, and figure out that money is really fucking important and decent hours are important and the job isn't really "a calling" -- it's a job. With bad pay and shitty hours.

Thankfully I ended up stumbling into TV instead of newspapers and worked myself into a spot where the pay is fine and the hours are good. But back when I was making a notch above minimum wage and working nights and weekends? I figured out early on that either that was going to change or I was getting the hell out.

 

I work for a national ag media outlet, writing plus taking and managing photography. My focus is largely a print magazine, but that's changing fast, of course.

 

I was fortunate to land a job out of college at the contract shop that supplied the Star-Ledger with HS and NJ college sports coverage, along with obituaries. The only thing I had ever wanted to be -- the thing I hung all my ambitions on -- was a sportswriter. It took a month of working nights and weekends writing up games via phone to convince me otherwise. I got a day job at a trade daily in NYC shortly after.

I will add that I did come back to sports two more times, for a national mag job and later out of necessity.

 

There are kids entering the workforce that are far more talented, versatile and well-read than my generation (20 ... sorry, 25ish years ago). And there are some really, really good young writers that have landed pretty plum gigs right out of college for major outlets (WaPo, Athletic etc.).

But like, the middle of the Bell curve exists for a reason. And 80 percent of the kids coming out fall into that category. And the idea getting a preps gig is somehow below the kids smack dab in the middle of that curb ... enjoy grad school b/c this life ain't for you.