Writing an Effective Query Letter

While I enjoy the extra income and the chance to write that comes from writing for online content publishers like Associated Content, Demand Studios and a couple of others, since I have a day job I don't envision ever having enough time available to move beyond the $300 - $ 400 earnings per month range I'm averaging now. Since it is my goal to transition from my current profession to becoming a full-time writer I see magazine writing as the land of opportunity. Landing assignments with magazines is of course a bit more of a challenge and involves something that we don't have to concern ourselves with as content contributors, query letters.

There are lots of books devoted to the topic of writing an effective query as well as lots of print and online articles on the subject. While I write everyday as a part of my regular job, the writing is technical and industry specific. I am actually relatively new to freelance writing. That being said you may be wondering what a new writer could possibly have to contribute on the subject of writing an effective query that hasn't been written already by experienced writers. That is a fair question and one I hope I can answer to your satisfaction. There is no getting around the fact that when it comes to freelance writing, experience is a valuable asset. Being a known quantity often opens doors closed to beginners. But advice on writing an effective query from experienced writers may actually have very little value for beginning writers beyond just providing an idea about things like suggested length, organization and what information needs to be included. What works for an experienced writer will not necessarily work for a new writer trying to break in to magazine writing. We have to face the fact that the experienced writer has one and possibly two advantages. They definitely will have publishing credits that the beginner will not have and they may already be known by the editor being queried based on having received previous assignments. It seems an argument can easily be made that the experienced writer needs only sell an article idea to the editor while the new writer faces not only that hurdle but in addition must sell themselves.

After reading two books on how to write an effective query, along with a dozen or so print and online articles, I started outlining an article idea I wanted to pitch to a magazine and even went as far as writing the first draft. Once I had the topic and the angle clearly in mind I selected the magazine I decided to query by going to the library and reading the past six issues to make certain I was familiar with the kind of articles published. Next I chose what I felt was the best query letter example that I had found and created my first one following the formula given. The article idea I think was a good one and after researching the magazine I was quite confident my article idea fit well with the style of the publication. I emailed the query to the editor and then settled down to wait. Five short weeks later I was the proud recipient of my very first rejection letter. While I was disappointed of course, there was actually a comical side to the rejection in that it was word for word the same form letter that I had seen in several different writing books and articles so at least I new I had the genuine article.

Convinced that my idea was sound I didn't despair as a result of the rejection letter. After pondering things I really felt where I had failed was in not writing an effective query. Many years ago I held a position where I received resumes from prospective employees for a company I worked for and made the decision on who would receive initial interviews. You don't have to read many resumes until you begin to easily pick out similarities among those that were drafted using what was at the time the hottest and most popular resume example. In spite of the information included in the resumes these all failed to accomplish the mission of separating the applicant from the pack. It was those individuals who had taken the time to creatively craft a unique resume that were most successful in obtaining interviews. It occurred to me that editors who read hundreds of query letters are in a similar position and likely can spot a "canned" query a mile away. New writers who follow a query example from a popular writing book or current article I think actually fail to accomplish the objective of selling themselves to the editor and as a result their article idea likely doesn't really get much in the way of serious consideration. No matter how good the idea, the editor has no way of knowing whether the new writer, an unknown quantity, can deliver by writing an article that will effectively capitalize on the idea. In fact the "canned" query likely raises more doubt since it is easy to see how the editor might actually feel that a writer who isn't creative enough to come up with a unique query letter likely lacks the creativity to write a solid article.

Before my second attempt to write a query I came across a great book, Handbook of Magazine Article Writing published by Writer's Digest Books. It contained a chapter on writing query letters which offered pointers rather than giving a formula to be followed. The author of the article encouraged the writer to hook the editor with the first paragraph and then once you captured his or her attention to hang on to it until the very end. This approach seems to be a great strategy to help level the playing field between the novice and the experienced writers that beginners must compete against for the limited number of magazine assignments available.

Since I had lost a bit of confidence from the initial rejection, I decided to query two magazines simultaneously on my second attempt. I selected two suitable publications and thoroughly researched them. I then drafted two query letters tailored to the specific style of each magazine. Both were sent by email like the first query but this time instead of a five week wait, I received replies from both editors the very next day. One editor accepted my idea as presented and invited me to submit my article on spec. The second editor mentioned that the magazine had published articles on my proposed topic in the past and asked me to explain what new information or perspective I could offer on the topic that would be make my article different from articles that had already been written. I immediately developed what I felt was a fresh new slant and sent a reply outlining it to the editor and a few days later received an invitation to submit my article on spec.

I definitely took to heart the concept on getting the editors attention in the first paragraph and trying to hold on to it. I actually think I accomplished that with the first dozen words. The first paragraph was basically a "teaser" of sorts where I attempted to include just enough information about my idea to pique the interest but left out enough to keep the editor reading. In paragraph two I demonstrated my familiarity with the publication by mentioning a past article I had read and then tried to make a case for how the article I proposed would be a good fit for the magazine in similar ways. Paragraph three outlined my actual article idea, including a working title and word count, along with reasons to support why the article might interest the magazine's readers. Lacking magazine writing credits, instead of providing online writing credits as I had in the first query letter, I simply cut and pasted the opening paragraphs of my proposed article into the query to demonstrate my writing style and abilities. I altered the font on those paragraphs so that they stood out from the rest of the letter. Finally I ended with a final paragraph politely asking for a response, thanking the editor for their consideration and giving them the length of time I would need to have the completed article in their hands for review if they were interested. Obviously these query letters were far more effective than my first attempt since both garnered invitations to submit the article on spec.

As a result of my unexpected success with both publications I did of course have to write a completely new article for the second magazine to achieve the new perspective I had promised but I was more than happy to do so. Neither is a sure thing as far as making a sale certainly. I just submitted the completed articles a few days ago and am now waiting for the decisions of both editors. But I can celebrate the fact that my query letters were effective and achieved my goal of getting a foot in the door with two different magazines which is all a query can be expected to do. Even if ultimately neither editor decides to purchase the proposed article at least I will have the satisfaction of knowing that my actual article was read and seriously considered by an editor rather than getting a form letter rejection which didn't make me feel confident at all that my proposal received much if any consideration at all.

So for those interested in breaking into magazine article writing, my advice is don't design a query on the canned formulas from a popular book or article but take the time to craft something creative and innovative that will help your query gain an editor's attention and hang on to it until the end. That is what writing an effective query is really all about.

Source: Fredette, Jean M., Ed. Handbook of Magazine Article Writing. Writer's Digest Books. Cincinnati, Ohio. 1988.