by Rena Sherwood

Created on: February 02, 2010

It doesn’t matter how good your magazine article is if you can’t sell it.  In order to do that, you need to perfect the art of writing query letters.  This may take longer to write than the actual magazine article.  Magazine queries only need to be about 200 - 300 words long.  But top markets can pay hundreds for an article, so taking time to craft a killer query letter is time well spent.

Reading Submission Guidelines

This may seem obvious, but many writers do not bother to do even this.  Submission guidelines for each magazine are posted on the magazine's website or in comprehensive annual "Writer's Markets" books.  Not all magazines will accept freelancers.  Because of budget cuts, many now only employ in-house or a small core of writers.  If a magazine is not accepting submissions, do not think that your query will be the exception.  It won't. 

Some magazines will only accept hard-copy queries while others only accept emailed queries.  Some won’t even accept queries but prefer to see the completed manuscript.  You will not win over any editor by sending queries to every email listed on the magazine's website.  

Research the Magazine

There's nothing that gets a query letter tossed into a bin faster than not researching the magazine you are trying to pitch.  Just because you admired a particular magazine as a child doesn't mean that it hasn’t changed.  Before you type one word of a query letter, sit down with at least the last three issues of the magazine and read them.  Is this the sort of magazine that will be interested in your topic?

Go to the masthead of the latest issue.  The masthead is a fancy name for the credits page, which lists the publication date and all of the staff that went into making the magazine.  Note if there are any sub-editors.  If there are, you will need to send your queries to the editor of the category that most suits your article.  Do not query the editor in chief or managing editor if there are other editors listed.

Letter Etiquette

If you happen to have met the editor at a writing conference or some other event, feel free to remind the editor of your meeting but keep it to a sentence.  If you are not sure of the gender of the editor, do not guess.  Type out the full name.  Also, don’t bore the editor with listing every single poem you had published in the high school newspaper.  You're selling the story – not yourself. 

Begin the query with the hook.  What's the premise that will reel a reader in?  Can you throw out a statistic?  Give a pertinent quote?  For example, if your query is about uninsured Americans, throw out the fact that there are over 46 million Americans without health insurance.  Do you have a quote from an expert that this number will increase?  Or do you have an interview with a hospital worker that has to turn people away because they don’t have insurance?  Make the editor care about your subject.  If you can’t do that in 200 – 300 words, then perhaps it's not such a good idea for a magazine article.

Conclude the query with a short biography of yourself and the most famous publication you were published in.  Only include details of your life only if it establishes you as an expert in the topic you are writing about. 

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