The cost-cutting at Condé Nast is causing pain for veteran magazine writers, but they are suffering in silence because they don’t want to lose their shrinking incomes.
Freelancers with retainer agreements guaranteeing regular paychecks in return for the magazine getting the first look at all their stories are having their earnings reduced by as much as 40 percent, sources say.
Some writers at magazines such as Vogue, Glamour and GQ have been forced to move from Manhattan to the outer boroughs because they could no longer afford their rent. One writer moved to Philadelphia.
The latest round of penny pinching — that began when Si Newhouse died last fall and his nephew Steven Newhouse took over — has also allegedly resulted in the company being less generous in reimbursing expenses and paying kill fees (due to a writer when a story doesn’t end up running).
It was reported that Graydon Carter retired as editor-in-chief of Vanity Fair rather than fire or cut the pay of loyal contributors.
But Condé artistic director Anna Wintour seems to be trimming budgets as if her job depended on it.