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Write Query Letters
that Sell Sure, talent counts for a lot but the first step in creating a successful freelance writing career is learning to SELL your ideas to editors. Creating informative, easy-to-read query letters is an art that’s unfortunately lost on many writers. (Not to worry: When you’ve reached a certain status, editors won’t mind receiving story ideas by email, by phone or in person during one-on-one meetings. So you won’t be writing query letters for the rest of your career.) Here, a guide to packaging your ideas to make them irresistible to editors: BEFORE WRITING YOUR QUERY Request writers’ guidelines: Send a self-addressed-stamped envelope to request them from the particular magazine. Get the Writers’ Market: This annual guide can give you an idea of what magazines are looking for. One note: Don’t stick to the contact information without double-checking. The magazine industry has a high turnover and editors jump to other magazines quite frequently. Get the magazine: Don’t bother querying a magazine you’ve never read before. It’ll be all too obvious that you don’t know what you’re talking about. Study the magazine before querying. Familiarize yourself with subject matter, voice, section headings, anything that may help target your letter. Find out tips about certain editors from fellow writers (Do they accept ideas by email? Is there a particular editor who’s great to work with? Do they need certain types of ideas this month?) Sometimes it’s good to email editors to introduce yourself and ask if they’re in need of any particular types of ideas. You may find out that they don’t need any more parenting ideas but are in dire need of real-people stories. When I was an editor at Mademoiselle, we would have a dearth of, say, relationship ideas one week and would actually solicit ideas from writers. Sneaky tip: find an associate, senior or articles editor instead of the editor-in-chief or managing editor to address your query to. They’re more likely to have time to respond. Or if you’re querying a particular section of the magazine, find out the correct contact before sending. WRITING THE QUERY Don’t dress it up. Some books suggest creating letterhead and customizing envelopes so your queries stand out from the pack. This can work but, in general, I’d suggest sticking to plain white paper and a trusty font that’s easy to read. Include a date, your contact information (name, address, phone, email, fax), the person’s name you’re writing to (never write "to the editors" or "to whom it may concern." It’ll just show that you didn’t take the time to find out who to address and your query will also be more likely to get lost in the slush pile). Introduce yourself. If this is your first query letter to this editor, include a list of some of the publications you’ve written for as well as any personal info (I’m a freelance writer in Seattle, etc). If you’ve written to this editor before, don’t assume that he or she will remember you. Begin your letter with something like, "I sent you a few ideas last month and would love to pitch you a few more. Again, I’m a writer in Seattle and I’ve written for Self and Esquire." Write somewhat in the voice that you would write the article in. For example, if you’re writing to a teen magazine, don’t use a formal tone. In general, there’s no need to go all-out with flowerly language in your query. In fact, queries that are over-written can sound awkward. It’s okay to use bullet-points to make it clear what points you hope to cover in the article. Flesh out a few sample details. Don’t just tell an editor you want to write a story about parents who send their daughters to girls’ schools. Find a few juicy statistics about how enrollment is on the rise; get a short quote from an expert about why girls’ schools are so hot. Be specific about details. If you’re talking about a new trend, don’t wimp out on details by saying things like,
"More couples are turning to therapy." Find a survey that says exactly how many if you can. Editors like concrete details. Some stories are evergreen, in other words, they could run today or six months from now and still not be dated. Others are newsy and must run right away. Why not add a news hook to an evergreen story? For example, you may want to pitch a story about how working mothers often struggle with the balance between work and family. Right now, this story could run at any time and be relevant. But why not make your editor say,
"Now’s the time to run this!"? Cite a brand new study or a recent story in the news, like that Nicole Kidman mentioned how she might not want to work much longer because she’d like to take care of her children. Remember, anything that’s newsy at the time that you’re writing your query may not be newsy by the time it gets to your editor and may be really dated by the time it goes to print. Also, editors are editors of certain sections for a reason. They’re typically up on everything that’s going on regarding their little niche. So, if you want to write for the nutrition section of a health and fitness magazine, don’t even bother pitching a straightforward story about a news item you heard about from any major web site or newspaper -- chances are, your editor already knows about it. The real gems come from out-of-the-way sources. The first freelance assignment I ever took was about a scientist who had conducted several studies showing that hairy men are more intelligent. I found it on a health web site based in London. It was published as a 200-word front-of-book piece in Men’s Health and that assignment not only kicked off a relationship with an editor, it got the ball rolling on two 1500-word assignments that followed. Tout your expertise: For many editors, seeing that you’ve been published in big-name magazines is extremely important. In fact, many editors won’t give brand new writers a shot, simply because they’re unproven -- it’s too much of a risk. But it’s not impossible to squeak your foot in the door. Play up your expertise related to the specific article. If you’re pitching an idea about a hot new migraine treatment and you’ve been a migraine sufferer for 20 years, say it. If you’d like to write an article about how to soothe a crying baby and you’re the mother of a 1-year-old, mention it. Include big-name published clips in your cover letter. If you’ve only been published in small local publications, fine. But bigger names do attract attention. So even if you’ve only written smaller pieces for Glamour, feature that title prominently when you’re mentioning who’s published your work. Send clips that are easily filed. You’d like to encourage an editor to file your clips in their file cabinet, not in the trash. Clips should be specific to the publication you’re sending to (for example, if you’re pitching Travel Holiday, send clips from other travel magazines), although not limited to those. If you’re sending a thick pile of clips, use a big envelope rather than stuffing them all into a letter-sized one. Paperclip them together and be sure that your name and the publication are visible on each clip. Photocopies don’t need to be in color. Plain black-and-white are fine. Include a self-addressed-stamped envelope OR better yet, a self-addressed stamped postcard that says something like: "No thanks, we’re not interested in your article idea because …" Or include a few "No thanks" reasons (like "No thanks but feel free to email me future ideas at …") of your own so the editor can just check the one that applies. This way, you’ll get your feedback and the editor won’t need to bother sending back your stuff, which will be easier on them, and therefore shed a much kinder light on you in the future. As far as simultaneous submissions go, there’s really no rule except: take a chance if you know what you’re getting into. I’ve submitted the same idea to several magazines only because the lag time between querying and hearing back from an editor can kill any newsy idea. In the eight years I’ve been freelance writing, I have yet to run into a problem. That being said, it can happen that two magazines will be interested in the same idea and you will be in deep trouble. Again, take the risk if you’re prepared to deal with the consequences. Don’t write even one shoddy letter. Believe it or not, even though editors receive dozens of queries a month, they do remember names. If you send one bad, sloppy query, the editor will remember and not give your next letter much consideration. Also, although persistence pays, don’t stuff your editor’s mailbox with query letters. Don’t follow up. If it’s taken longer than six months to hear back from an editor, you can pretty much assume that you’re not going to hear back. Don’t think of emailing or calling an editor to check up on the status of your query. It’ll only make you look like a pest. Also, a majority of query letters are actually read by editorial assistants, who weed out the duds and pass along the winners to their top editors. So an editor you try to follow up with may have no idea what you’re talking about. Keep a positive outlook. Query letters are a numbers game: write enough of them and you’re sure to hit a winner eventually. Rejection is just part of the game. Take it all in stride and don’t trash ideas if they don’t immediately work for one magazine. Repackage it, improve it and pitch it to another publication. You’ll be selling your work in no time. |
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