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Mastering the E-query,
or
How I got in, got out
and got the assignment
By Victoria
Groves
After years of agonizing over my e-mails to editors, only to rarely hear back
one way or the other, I've changed my approach. The subject line, the greeting,
and each sentence in the text is purposely placed and this streamlined way of
doing business has made my response rate and my freelance income increase over
the past year.
An editor's mailbox fills up fast and the click of a mouse is all that separates
the acceptance from the rejection. While I still enjoy putting together a query
letter to an editor and attaching color copies of my clips in a precise order, I
know that I'll hear back much sooner by sending it via e-mail. Most of my clips
are available online, and I can easily point an editor to my website for
additional information about me and my writing.
I've boiled my e-querying down to a science. In an ideal world, I would break
into 10 solid publications and then make a living writing for them over and over
again. But when an assignment stream dries up, a magazine folds, or when I just
want to add some diversity to my clip stack, I sometimes try to carve out a new
relationship with a publication outside my regular realm.
Subject line
Obviously, if you don't come up with a solid subject line,
what you write in your e-mail message is irrelevant. With spam filters in place
at most publications, it's important to stay away from anything that sounds too
sales-y, while still enticing an editor to click and read.
If you're sending a straight query, identify it as such while also giving a hint
of what the idea is about:
SUBJECT-- Query: Creating an emergency car kit
If you are responding to a query from an editor needing freelance staff, you'll
likely use a subject line that is a bit different:
SUBJECT-- Freelance inquiry
SUBJECT-- Responding to your call for freelancers
If you've been referred to a particular editor by a writer already working for
that publication, you're in a great position to name drop. I like to get it
right in the subject line so he or she knows that I'm not querying the
publication out of the blue.
SUBJECT-- Freelance inquiry, referred to you by Joe Smith
E-mail body
Congratulations! You've passed the first test and convinced
an editor to open your e-mail. Now is the time to get them to read through to
the end, check out your clips and hopefully give you the assignment.
Here's one approach:
Dear Mr. Freeman:
Every fall, millions of butternut squash come out of the fields of New England,
and every fall, almost everyone complains about peeling them.
Now, Richard Smith has come up with the answer: the Smith Automated Butternut
Peeler.
After watching area farmers struggling to find efficient ways to peel butternut
squash and turnips, Smith, a welder, invented his apparatus, which now has a
patent pending.
I propose a 900-word article on this new automated way to peel the squash's
outer skin, leaving a thinner peel with more of the vegetable intact.
I am a freelance writer and have most recently been published in Baltimore
Magazine, Chesapeake Family Newsmagazine, and the Boston Parents'
Paper. I am enclosing clips for your review. Please contact me if you feel
this article would be a good addition to Fresh Cut Magazine.
Here's a different approach:
Dear Ms. McIntosh:
As a Washington World reader, I would like to complement you and writer
Nadja Najow for the interesting and informative article "The Wonders of
Depression Glass" in the February 2003 issue.
I am a freelance writer living outside Washington D.C. and I currently write for
Chesapeake Family Newsmagazine and the food department of Baltimore
Magazine. I would like to propose a 1000 word article for The Home Page
section of your publication called "Dinner Party Basics". The article will
include quick and classy recipes and entertaining shortcuts for the Washington
area hostess. Organizing a dinner party, whether for business or pleasure, does
not have to an all-consuming or stressful experience. I will include interviews
with area cooks, as well as a sidebar of hints on foolproof parties.
In addition to my regular assignments for local magazines, I have also been
published in Womens ENews, Family Fun Magazine, and Blue Jean
Magazine. I am also the writer and editor of the Dollar Diva monthly
e-newsletter, a publication that teaches economic independence, entrepreneurship
and philanthropy to girls and women.
To view some of my clips, please visit
www.victoriagroves.net. Please contact me if you would like to discuss the
possible publication of this article or any other potential assignments.
Clips
The last thing to do is to add in a way for an editor to
easily access your past clips. Many editors are leery of opening attachments, so
unless you don't have copies of your clips any other way, avoid presenting them
in this format.
The best way to show off your skills is to direct an editor to your website.
Even if you're not a web expert, there are easy and inexpensive options like
www.dynamod.com. Another choice is to add links right into the body of your
e-mail. But make sure that if you use the same set of links over and over again,
that you check them regularly so you don't send a dead one to an editor.
By streamlining your online querying efforts, you will not only get more
assignments, but you'll also find that you can send out more queries in less
time. That alone should make 2008 a good one for your portfolio and your wallet.
Victoria Groves
is a freelance writer living in Boston. She has been published by a variety of
regional and national publications and also teaches writing courses on writing
for teens and tweens, newslettering, and breaking into newspaper stringing. For
more information, visit
www.victoriagroves.net.
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