Newsletter from 10-15-2009
Here’s a quick 11-step
helper guide to those eager to get their articles (or books or almost anything
else) in print on somebody else’s pages.
Why would you bother to
do something that pesky or heretical? To share your genius more widely, to
establish or expand your expertise, to sell more products, to stay out of
trouble (or get into it), and/or because sometimes those editors
pay!
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QUERY LETTER CHECKLIST
1.
If you can’t write a selling query letter, you can’t write a selling article,
or so thinks, correctly, the editor to whom you are trying to sell.
2.
The only articles I ever sold (in the first 10 years) without queries either
paid nothing or were read by an audience of about seven. CONCLUSION: to survive
by writing, query.
3.
When you are very famous you can call an editor, give your name, and query
right then. But 75% of the editors still won’t know that you are famous or even
who you are, so that path usually bruises your ego and gets you no farther
ahead.
4.
The rest of us ALWAYS query when we want somebody else to pay us. That’s
because paying editors expect to see evidence of our writing first (in a query
letter), give a go-ahead, write our names down in the “coming articles”
calendar, receive the manuscript when promised, shriek quietly with delight
when it arrives and makes sense, pay us on acceptance, print the piece, and do
it the very same way again and again.
5.
Don’t expect that, once you are on an editor’s page, you will automatically be
there again. They will quickly forget about you. So the best thing to do is to
get in print, then follow up within weeks or at most months (of a sale) with
another great idea. That way you improve your chances by at least 50%. The
third time you do that, the editor will know you and
be inclined to accept most of what you propose thereafter—or know better.
6.
In other words, do not telephone editors with query ideas. Usually you
just irk them. The best you get is, “Sounds like it might work. Send me the
idea in a query letter.” Duh. Save the
irk and the call.
7.
Lisa Cool, in How to Write Irresistible Query Letters, has a
five-step checklist that is right on. I’ve rewritten the commentary.
|
A.
Lead. Does the opening paragraph grab the editor’s attention,
is it appropriate in tone and style, and does it tell what the article will
be about? B.
Summary. Are the three key points (or more, but not many more) of the
piece mentioned? Are the facts and quotes new? Did you mention the
authorities to be cited or quoted? Is the message and direction of the
article clear? (In other words, does the editor know what they are buying?) C.
Bio. Do you tell the key stuff about you that the editor should know?
Did you answer the editor’s question, “Why you?” D.
Length. Is the query one single-spaced letter page long in at least
11-point type so even the blindest editor can see it? E.
Format. Is the letter error-free, clean, and unadorned of lace, perfume,
or other worrisome signs? Does it follow conventional business letter
requirements? |
(Incidentally,
it’s almost the same thing I said decades earlier when I published the first
query letter book. The path to writing success has barely changed in decades,
though the tools have.)
8.
Work hard on writing query letters that jump with excitement, compel the editor
to beg for more, demand that the manuscript be sent overnight, or shout
“WINNER!” Any one of those four may be enough. A combination or all four and
the only way you won’t be in print often and profitably is by querying very
dumb editors or the wrong kinds of publications. Fortunately, there are very
few very dumb editors. So get to it…
9.
Will the editor ever call you with ideas that he/she wants in print? Maybe, if
the editor is your aunt or painfully desperate and wants a freebie. Just don’t
wait by the phone.
10.
Should you e-mail or snail mail your query? If the
e-mail address is given in the Writer’s Market, go modern. Otherwise,
snail mail works fine. Include your e-mail address in the query so the editor
can open that door in the response. (Also include your phone number.)
11.
What is the best buying ratio you can expect from cold queries (editors who
have never bought from you)? Maybe 33%, but 15% is a very good ratio. Later,
after you’ve sold an editor, over 50% is possible. But if you don’t send
queries, it will always be 0%.
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You want to know more
about how to sell 75% or more of your freelance writing to magazines and
newspapers? The first two include the 75% formula (with examples in travel that
can easily be modified for other kinds of writing), plus professional examples
of query and cover letters:
* Travel Writer’s Guide,
in Trade Paperback or Digital format
* How
to Sell 75% of Your Travel Writing,
a 45-minute, two-tape audio CD (with workbook)
* 25
Professional Query and Cover Letters, a digital report
Want 20% off of each
product?
(expires
11/15/09)
Enter 8815 in the
coupon box in each order form as you purchase it.
These
can also be sent as gifts to family members, friends, or enemies.
I’ll see you again about
November 1.
Best wishes,
Gordon Burgett
Eager
to subscribe? It’s
free—and easy to escape if it’s not to your liking. Go to www.gordonburgett.com/free-reports.
It will also open up the archives full of earlier treasures, plus give you
three very useful reports to download, also free.