7 tips for a freelance query

You'd like to see your name in print in a national magazine? The first step involves crafting a query that piques and holds an editor's interest. How do you do that? Let me give one editor's perspective.

1. Look online for the magazine's submission guidelines, and follow them. If you flaunt the preferred procedures, you haven't shown attention to detail.

2. In the query, show that you're more than passingly familiar with the magazine, its audience and its coverage. Research impresses editors.

3. Set a professional tone, even if you have met the editor multiple times. Someone other than the editor you know might evaluate the queries.

4. Demonstrate your writing skills in the query. I'm not interested in published clips that have been edited; I'll use the query to evaluate writing skills.

5. Describe your story idea in detail, especially if the topic's appeared in the magazine within two years. How would your article differ?

6. Quickly explain why you deserve a byline and a paycheck. What value can you bring to the magazine that another writer can't offer?

7. If sending an e-mail, avoid "query" as the only word in the Subject line, and make your e-mail stand out. "Query: pack for a week-long birding festival with only a carry-on suitcase" definitely will help an editor remember you and your idea.

Want to write an article for a 2010 issue of WildBird?

The time is drawing near when editors here will craft the editorial calendar for all of the 2010 issues. We will evaluate all the queries sent via e-mail (preferred) and snail mail (not preferred) in the preceding months and consider how the suggested topics might fit together in WildBird's six issues with 64 or 72 pages per issue.

While considering the topics, I look at many other aspects of each query. For instance, does the writer address the letter to me rather than the generic Dear Editor? If not, the writer reveals a lack of research. Does that apparent laziness inspire my confidence in the quality of the writer's proposed article? Not so much.

That criteria and others appear in Freelance Tips in the right column of this blog. To those writers who understand the freelance criteria, I extend a hearty invitation and a particular desire to read backyard-birding queries.

What topics can you suggest for the 20th annual hummingbird issue that haven't appeared in previous issues? Let's work together to create great issues!

An appropriate query

In a previous post about freelance writers' queries to magazine editors, Casey asked "You provide an example of what not to do, and give a few critiques or thoughts about why the example query was not a good one. Could you provide an example of a successful query?"

Here's a template for a query that reveals birding knowledge, writing skills and some business sense. The writer has no previous contact with me and sets a business-casual tone.

Dear Ms. Hooper:

I propose an article about backyard landscaping for hummingbirds for a future version of WildBird's annual hummingbird issue. The May/June 2008 issue included "Birdscaping for Buzzers" by Val Cunningham, but I can offer a different take on the topic.

As a long-time gardener and avid birder... [Convincing details ensue.]

The submissions guidelines cite six to eight weeks for a reply, so I'll follow up with you then. Thank you for your time, and I look forward to working with you.

Regards,
Orville Lewis

Why would that query prompt me to consider working with and paying this freelance writer? The query
* arrives via e-mail
* uses my name (not the previous editor's name and not the generic "Editor")
* correctly cites the magazine's name (attention to detail!)
* shows familiarity with the magazine's previous content and submission guidelines
* provides a different perspective on a previously covered topic
* offers clues about the writer's background and expertise
* comes across as businesslike but not stilted

So you want to write for a magazine...

and not just a bird magazine? Then take the time to glance at the freelance tips in the right-hand sidebar of this blog.

Maybe I'm not the only editor with those thoughts about freelance writers and queries. For instance, maybe I'm not the only one who rejects queries that begin with "Dear Editor" or "Hey Amy" rather than a more businesslike salutation that shows familiarity with a magazine's staff.

Maybe some freelance writers would benefit from taking a clue from those tips and would find themselves receiving more assignments and more income. Just maybe...

This public service announcement brought to you by an editor crafting the 2009 editorial calendar for multiple magazines and currently wading through queries

How not to curry an editor's favor

If you're interested in contributing photographs to a publication, you're probably not going to receive a response if you send an e-mail like this:

Dear Editor,

I possible, could I be sent a photo submissions list for this years magazines?

Thanks,
[name withheld]


1. If you want to establish a working relationship with an editor, include that individual's name in the e-mail.
2. If you want to make a good first impression, use correct spelling, grammar and punctuation in the e-mail.
3. If you want to submit photographs to a publication, provide proof that your work is worthy of and appropriate for consideration by providing a URL, a list of publications that used your images and/or a list of training and awards.

Then again, how would you react to such an e-mail if you worked as a magazine editor? I'm curious.