query

When it comes to tools in the writer’s toolbox, the query letter is a must.

I can always tell newby writers (or those who refuse to learn the tools of the trade), by their query letters. These letters are either chock full of the wrong information, or have barely any information at all.

I’ve even received queries that have no signature line. Now I know why Anonymous is so often credited with a piece of writing.

Think of your query like a sledge hammer in a game of high striker at the carnival. A weak query letter is like trying to ring the bell with a kid’s plastic hammer. [Read more…] about How Is a Query Letter Like a Sledge Hammer?

As editor for CrossRiver Media Group, I receive submission queries that run the gamut from professional to spam. All too often, writers submit emails that don’t contain even the skeleton of a real query letter. Their email simply reads “here is XYZ for your review.”

Sometimes I responded to them, but often I don’t.

Increase your chances of editors reading your submission by learning to write a great query letter. Tweet this.

• Address your query to a specific editor
• Hook the editor with your idea in the first paragraph, then
• Give a further description of the article and write it in the tone and style of the market you’re submitting to
• Include the word count of your article (or anticipated count if you haven’t yet written it)
• Include information about why you are the right person to write the article
• Include your publication credits if you have them (if you don’t, then don’t mention it)
• Tell them if this is a simultaneous submission (you have submitted this idea to other markets at the same time)

A proper query is as essential as following the publication’s submission guidelines (uh-oh, did you read those?).

There are whole books dedicated to how to write query letters. Grab one from the library and study it. The Writer’s Digest Writer’s Market includes a “Query Letter Clinic.”  It offers good and bad examples from which you can learn.  Or do a Google search on “query letter examples” and study several.  

Give the editor what he or she needs to catch your pitch, and you’re more likely to make a sale.