their salaries, especially when
the subjects are not assigned to them and when the stories are prepared
in the writer's own leisure time. Other papers expect their regular
staff members to furnish the paper with whatever articles they may
write, as a part of the work covered by their salary. If a paper has one
or more special feature writers on its staff, it may pay them a fixed
salary or may employ them "on space"; that is, pay them at a fixed
"space rate" for the number of columns that an article fills when
printed.

Newspaper correspondents, who are usually paid at space rates for news
stories, may add to their monthly "string," or amount of space, by
submitting special feature articles in addition to news. They may also
submit articles to other papers that do not compete with their own
paper. Ordinarily a newspaper expects a correspondent to give it the
opportunity of printing any special feature stories that he may write.

Free-lance writers, who are not regularly employed by newspapers or
magazines as staff members, submit articles for the editor's
consideration and are paid at space rates. Sometimes a free lance will
outline an article in a letter or in personal conference with an editor
in order to get his approval before writing it, but, unless the editor
knows the writer's work, he is not likely to promise to accept the
completed article. To the writer there is an obvious advantage in
knowing that the subject as he outlines it is or is not an acceptable
one. If an editor likes the work of a free lance, he may suggest
subjects for articles, or may even ask him to prepare an article on a
given subject. Freelance writers, by selling their work at space rates,
can often make more money than they would receive as regular members of
a newspaper staff.

For the amateur the newspaper offers an excellent field. First, in every
city of any size there is at least one daily newspaper, and almost all
these papers publish special feature stories. Second, feature articles
on local topics, the material for which is right at the amateur's hand,
are sought by most newspapers. Third, newspaper editors are generally
less critical of form and style than are magazine editors. With some
practice an inexperienced writer may acquire sufficient skill to prepare
an acceptable special feature story for publication in a local paper,
and even if he is paid little or nothing for it, he will gain experience
from seeing his work in print.