I've finally gotten to the stage where I actually have some published clips to forward when magazines say "query with clips." . . . I'm curious to know what is the most common way of forwarding these clips . . . I'm guessing it's all via email these days and that perhaps PDF attachments would be OK?
Clips
- Thread starter Umgowa
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Attachments won't be welcome at a lot of places, with worries about viruses. Do you have a website? I strongly recommend it - you can get decent Wordpress hosting for $50 a year, and then you can add your clips to a portfolio page so you can just send links to potential clients. That's the most common way to send clips now.
You can do this, but ninety percent of teh editors I deal with don't have time to go look at a website until after you've sold them something. They all still want clips sent to them, not an address where they can go find clips.
Guidelines should tell you how to send clips. It is not all e-mail these days. Many magazines and clients I have still want snail mail.
Those that want e-submission nearly all specify how to send clips. Sometimes it's in the body of the query, sometimes as an attachment. Many magazines have an online submission program where you can send clips teh same way yu send teh query, or with the query.
It you send by e-mail, they also usually specify format, and most of the ones I deal with hate PDF.
Check ay guidelines carefully. When in doubt, ask.
James, thanks for your post. You obviously have a lot of experience. Your words below tell me that you and many other experienced freelancers do, in fact, have many (hard copy) copies of their published articles stored in very fat files. I just want to make sure of this before I make a lot of hard paper copies.
It is not all e-mail these days. Many magazines and clients I have still want snail mail.
It is not all e-mail these days. Many magazines and clients I have still want snail mail.
Sorry
James: My above post just shows what happens when one (i.e.. me) has a non-technical, antiquated mind-set. Obviously one simply scans all their clips and keeps them in digital format on their computer. If hard copies are requested, one prints them up and mails them . . . no need for files jammed with multiple hard copies. If a publication wants some kind of digital rendering of your clips, just follow their directions as to what kind of digital format they want. Thanks for making me think this through.
James: My above post just shows what happens when one (i.e.. me) has a non-technical, antiquated mind-set. Obviously one simply scans all their clips and keeps them in digital format on their computer. If hard copies are requested, one prints them up and mails them . . . no need for files jammed with multiple hard copies. If a publication wants some kind of digital rendering of your clips, just follow their directions as to what kind of digital format they want. Thanks for making me think this through.
I used to cut and paste my clips into the email. First the pitch, then the clips following. I would include where they were published and the date at the top of each clip. I did this even for clips that were published online, but then I would also include a link to the story. I never had a problem following this method.
That's worked for me as well. The world is changing, a few years ago I probably would have snail-mailed clips. Now, they can be found on my websites and blogs as links to published work. When I started, you photocopied the article or clipped it out (hence the name) from an author's copy of the publication. There's a box of yellowed paper somewhere that has some of my really old ones.
Jeff
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