Back in the days when I got my start as a writer there were two ways of getting published in magazines, by submitting over the transom or by querying an editor with your article idea first and those are still the only two ways to get published today. An over the transom submission can best be defined simply as an unsolicited manuscript. Merriam-Webster defines an over the transom manuscript as one being offered without prior arrangement. Editors frowned upon over the transom manuscripts then and they frown upon the practice even more today. Such submissions are very unprofessional and as a rule go immediately into the “slush pile.” The slush pile consists of all unsolicited manuscripts whether submitted directly by an author or through an agent that’s unknown to the editor. Reading unsolicited manuscripts is a job assigned to young assistants who have yet to earn the title assistant editor. If they find something of interest they then pass the manuscript on to their immediate supervisor, an assistant editor. These manuscripts go to the bottom of the assistant editors reading pile. When the assistant editor gets around to reading them they must find something interesting in them too before they reach the editor’s desk. Needless to say very few unsolicited manuscripts are ever read by the senior editor, let alone published.
Querying the editor on an article idea is considered a sign of the professional writer. A query letter is first and foremost a sales pitch. Your objectives are
· To sell the editor on your article idea
· To convince the editor that the article is ideal for his or her readership
· To convince the editor that you are the best person to write the article
· To convince the editor that you can produce the finished article in a timely manner
· Even if the article isn’t a perfect match the editor may like the way you presented it and represented yourself as a professional and want to work with you on a different assignment
Ten steps to writing the perfect query letter.
1. First make sure you get the editor’s name right. Do your homework. Make sure that you are not only submitting your query letter to the right editor but make sure that you are spelling the editor’s name correctly. Go the extra mile to find out the editor’s name. Never address a query letter to “dear editor,” “Dear Sir,” or “Dear Madam.” Just reflect on how you feel when you receive a sales pitch addressed to “Dear Resident” or “Dear Homeowner”
2. Make sure that you are submitting you query letter to an appropriate market. To be sure of that you need to read the publications you are submitting to. Magazine titles can be deceiving so take the time to peruse them at your local library or on their online site if one is available. If you don’t have firsthand knowledge of a publication it’s very easy to send a great idea to the wrong market. Take the magazine Do It Yourself,” when I first ran across that title I thought that I had discovered another potential market for my hardcore DIY articles but upon closer examination I realized that it was more oriented toward home decorating and very simple diy articles and projects. If I hadn’t bothered to read the actual magazine I could have wasted both my time and the editor’s time by querying on an article on framing an interior, non load bearing wall. Personally I try to subscribe to all the magazines that I submit to on regular bases.
3. Start every query letter with a slam dunk opening sentence. Remember your query letter is a sales pitch being made to a very busy editor. You have to grab and arrest their attention within the first 30 seconds or they’ll toss your letter aside and open another. Statistics that shock make for good opening sentences. What you don’t ever want to do is open a query letter with something like, ‘Although I have never been published before …,’ ‘I’m new to writing but …,’ or ‘My mother thinks I should submit this article idea …’ Always open a query letter with a positive statement. One of your objectives is to make the editor feel that you can be depended upon to produce what you say you can and an opening like ‘Although I have never been published before …,’ doesn’t engender a feeling of confidence in you as a writer.
4. Get to the point as quickly as possible. The best query letter run one page in length. Your objective is to sell the editor on your article idea and to supply just enough details to wet his or her appetite to want to know what comes next. If you have never worked with the editor before do include a little information about your background and your qualifications to write the article you are querying them on
5. Be professional and business like at all times. Even if you have developed a personal relationship with a given editor query letters aren’t the place to promote that relationship. Being professional is reflected in the details like the inclusion of a SASE (Self-Addressed Stamped Envelope) for the editor’s convenience in replying. Never expect an editor or his or her publication to pay postage
6. Be focused in your query letter. Query the editor with a specific article idea, never write an editor and simply say something like “I would like to write an article on diabetes or dieting. That too broad and the editor knows that you can’t cover that broad a subject in the word count that they have available for a feature length article.
7. Submitting your query by mail or by email is fine but under no circumstances query with a phone call to the editor. Use the phone to verify the data you gather from “Writer’s Market,” writer’s guidelines, or some other source. Call to verify the correct spelling of the editor’s name, snail mail mailing address, email address, etc with the editor’s secretary, then submit your query by snail mail or email whichever the editor prefers.
8. Clips or no clips. If you have published before in a genre appropriate to the market you are submitting your query send a couple of your best clips with the query letter. If you have never published before, don’t draw the editor’s attention to it by saying something like ‘…I have never published…,’ or ‘I have no clips to send you…,’ don’t say anything at all regarding the issue of clips.
9. It’s a waiting game. Editors are very busy people and a response time can vary from a week to three months. If you haven’t heard back after three weeks have passed send the editor a polite letter or email enquiring if they received your query. Then if you still haven’t heard from them after three months have passed it’s safe to assume that they have rejected your idea and it’s time to move on. This is a good time to bring up the question of simultaneous queries to multiple editors for the same article idea. Like simultaneous submissions of manuscripts it’s never a good idea. A real problem could arise if two or more editors show a desire to look at the same manuscript. Check out my article on the subject: A guide to becoming a freelance writer: Are simultaneous submissions OK?
10. Learn from your rejection. Check out my first in the series: A guide to becoming a freelance writer. Rejection slips are part of every writer’s life; neophyte and pro alike so never take them personally. No matter what always give your writing 101 percent of your efforts.
Here are a few good articles on writing query letters
· How To Write a Query or Pitch Letter
· What’s Wrong With My Query Letter?
