It's time once again for WRITERLY WISDOM where every Wednesday we will sneak a peek into the world of writing and publication. I was pleasantly surprised to discover my next guest author only lives about 30 miles from me! Now after polishing our stories we will have a quick checklist to create the perfect query letter. Take it away Pat...
TEN THINGS TO REMEMBER WHEN WRITING A
QUERY LETTER
By Patricia Hope
There are as many ways to write a query letter as there are editors to
read them. After a lifetime of reading and writing them, I think most editors
would agree writers should follow a few common-sense guidelines if they want
their query letter to be read and responded to in a positive way.
A writer feasts or starves on ideas,
said Robert J Hastings in his book How I Write. So do editors. That’s
not to say they don’t get lots of ideas but good ideas are often turned down
because the writer didn’t spend enough time presenting his idea. The following
list is 10 of the things I’ve learned about writing query letters after decades
of writing and selling articles, both for print and online publications. As a
former newspaper editor, I’ve read my share of queries, as well. It would take
many blogs to give you examples of what some writers have said to make editors
say no, but hopefully, this list will help you get more yeses.
Do
your homework.
Read
the publications’ guidelines, if available, and follow them to the letter. If
no guidelines are available, read several issues of the publication so you will
know what style of writing it uses and what subject matter it covers. When I
queried The Writer a few years
ago on the idea of writing about my own writing critique group, I had been
reading the magazine for more than 20 years, yet, I carefully read and re-read
their guidelines.
Begin
with Why.
Every good
writer knows you must have the “who, what, where, when and why” to tell a good
story. But first, “Why do you want to write this story? Why did you choose this
publication?” Be honest in evaluating why this story matters to you and your
potential readers. My “why” for the writing group piece was because we had been
together 30 years and we had all reached success as writers.
Keep
the query to one page.
An editor sifting through hundreds of letters and emails will be grateful.
That’s basically four or maybe five paragraphs. The first two paragraphs should
say why you think your idea is good for this publication and who is involved,
what they are doing or have done, where all this takes place, and when it
happened or will happen. The why should become obvious as you explain what your
article is about.
Don’t
be cutesy or sloppy.
No colored paper or flashing emails. Be as straightforward and professional as
you can be, whether sending a query by snail mail or email, be sure you check
and re-check, things like grammar, spelling, capitalization, formatting,
tenses, everything. Your query Letter is a prelude of what your article will
be. It’s your salesman with his foot in the door. Don’t blow the only
opportunity you might have with this publication by being sloppy.
Never
address the query to “Dear Sir or Madam” or “To Whom It May Concern.”
Know the editor’s name and the
correct spelling. It’s your job. This information should be on the masthead of
the publication but if you can’t find it any other way, call the company and
and get the spelling of both first and last names.
Do
enough research to know where your finished piece is going.
Try to think of what your story
opening would be. Something made you want to write about this idea. What makes
your angle unique? My opening that got me an assignment from Ford
Times about Dollywood, in Sevierville, TN
began with, “It’s as country as a Tennessee Barn Dance and as colorful as a
July Fourth fireworks display. It’s as down home as grits and gravy and as
gauche as rhinestone-studded boots. It’s Dollywood . . . superstar Dolly
Parton’s way of bringing something home.”
Share
the meat of the story but don’t say everything.
In my query to The Writer, I went on to say, “You name it and we’ve written
it. . . . We’ve won hundreds of contest awards, two members have columns that
have run more than 25 years, one member has published a historical novel and
one member has two novels for children. One has a play that was produced by a
major university . . . . All have been included in anthologies . . . . five
have taught creative writing classes, four have worked as newspaper editors . .
.” What
I saved was how we achieved all of this and the influence our critique group
had on our success.
Be careful about adjectives and adverbs.
Don’t say “I have this wonderful article” or “I think your
magazine is the best one I’ve ever read.” If your idea is a good one, it will
stand on its own, without the sugar-coating.
B e truthful.
Don’t say
you can get an interview with Justin Beiber if you have never met him. Don’t
promise things you can’t deliver and don’t agree to deadlines you can’t keep.
The editor will respect your honesty more that broken promises.
Save the
last paragraph in your letter to tell about you.
List your credits and say if you are an expert in a
particular field as it relates to your article. If you have not been published
don’t say anything, and especially, don’t play on sympathy, i.e., “I’ve never
written anything but if you give me a chance I know I could.” Remember, even
club newsletters, church bulletins, and local newspaper guest columns can lend
credibility to your writing.
So, go, and
cultivate your ideas, then pick no fewer than five publications where you think
an idea will fit and begin your query letter writing. Choose the publication
first where your article idea is most likely to sell. Keep these ten steps in
mind as you submit your queries. Don’t be discouraged if you get a rejection,
just go to the next editor on your list and keep submitting. If an editor says
something personal in his rejection, take it seriously, especially if he
invites you to send him something else. Keep your query letters going and it
won’t be long until the assignments will fill your inbox and/or mailbox. Happy
writing!
Award-winning writer Patricia A.
Hope has published widely in anthologies, magazines, newspapers, and literary
journals including the online literary journal Maypop and a short story in Muscadine
Lines. Her articles have appeared in Tennessee
Women of Vision and Courage, A Tapestry of Voices, Rocking Chair and Afternoon
Tales, The
Writer, Blue Ridge Country, An Encyclopedia of East Tennessee, These Are Our
Voices, An Appalachian Studies Teacher’s Manual, and numerous more. She has written extensively for area
newspapers including the Knoxville News-Sentinel and The Oak Ridger. She is Past Chairman of the Tennessee Writers Alliance (TWA)
and Editor of the first TWA anthology, A Tennessee Landscape, People, and
Places. She is the
Past President of the East TN
Chapter of Society of Professional Journalists, winner of the American Cancer
Society’s statewide Best Media Coverage Award and winner of a Tennessee Press
Association Award. She co-founded and served as Executive Director of Tennessee
Mountain Writers, Inc.(TMW), a non-profit writing organization. Because of her
work with TMW, earlier this year she was recognized by the Arts Council of Oak Ridge
(ACOR) as one of its "arts champions." She lives in Oak Ridge, TN.
A former newspaper editor, Patricia
currently works as a technical writer and proposal coordinator for the Services
Division of Emerson Process Management.
