Writing Query Letters
Study/know the publication before you make your pitch — read the back issues
The whole point of a query letter is to SELL your story idea to a busy, over-worked editor. Even if you have been widely published — and even if you have published in the very publication you are querying — it’s possible that the editor you are addressing may not have seen your previous published work. Therefore, your query should immediately convey your familiarity with the publication you are querying, your professionalism, something of your personality and spirit (your writer's voice).
Your query letter should convey enough information and details to convince the editor/s to spring for this particular story, and to give them the confidence that you are the best qualified writer to handle the assignment. Your query/proposal should be tight, to the point, friendly perhaps but not breezy, and self-confident but not pushy.
Most newspapers do not require or expect query letters and would prefer that you mail or e-mail the finished story, with info about what photos are available to accompany your story. Photos are essential. Magazines, however, generally DO expect query letters, today always sent by e-mail.
Sending complete researched stories unsolicited to a magazine may make an unfavorable impression. This is because editors know that professional freelancers generally cannot afford to write anything unless they are sure it will be published. Even though a writer knows that a particular idea may be dead-on for that magazine, he or she cannot know whether or not the magazine may have already bought a similar story, or a story on that same destination, or have one in the works for the near future.
Editors want to be able to shape the story- Consult the publication’s Writers Guidelines
Professional freelancers are also aware that magazine editors like to have a hand in the making and shaping of the story. Editors want to be sure that the slant, length, style and tone of the piece will suit their publication's readership, and will fit in with future and/or special issues planned for that publication. Many magazines publish their own Writer’s Guidelines to help writers compose queries for their publication, targeting a special section of their magazine, or column, or themed issue.
A publication’s Writer’s Guidelines are usually available upon request to the publication’s editorial department. They are also available online on many of the magazine’s websites. HOWEVER... shorter humorous, nostalgic or personal stories that hinge completely on the writer’s flair and style are hard to explain in a query. If you’re itchy to write the piece, go ahead and send the completed story. You never know…
Your query letter should contain enough information or inside knowledge (or even gossip!) to sound authoritative. At the point of querying the magazine, you are not expected to know everything you will need to know in order to write the whole story. But the editor must have faith that the writer has the know-how to get all the info, insight, interviews needed once the assignment is commissioned. And the amount of payment and visibility you'll receive for the story will likely determine how much initial or extra research /writing/ rewriting you're willing to invest in the assignment.
Try to retain your copyright
You may put more time and effort into writing your complete article, knowing that you will be able to re-license (not re-sell!) it to another print or on-line publication. Remember, as a freelancer you really do own the copyright on everything you write, unless you specifically sign away that right in a written contract. Your fee (and or online royalties) for the article (usually) covers a one-time usage only. If you are not asked to sign a contract, verify with the editor/publisher with whom you are working, exactly what the conditions of ownership/control/republishing/re-licensing your work are, before you submit the work. If you are unclear, or the editor sounds unclear, get this in writing.
Electronic rights — use on a magazine’s website or database, or “re-purposing” the content in an archival format — should always be negotiated separately. You are licensing your article, NOT selling it. (I hope! Unless you are getting BIG BUCK$ for it). Please avoid contracts stating this is a Work For Hire unless you want to kiss the control of your work goodbye. Forsooth!
Multiple queries
It's OK to query more than one magazine/publication about the same idea at once if they are not competing markets. If you take this approach, try to make each query letter sound as if it were written to/tailored for that publication alone. (Every editor is flattered to think that you’re considering his/her publication alone—even if you are not.) But be careful if two publications accept it; you will have to decide what to do.
Never send a completed manuscript to more than one magazine at once. If two magazines should want to publish your text, this would put you in an extremely awkward situation, unless the publications represent totally different markets or different countries. Use your best professional judgment in this matter. The online world makes it tricky, and or even unethical, to publish the same text in two different web locations at once.
You can’t offer “First North American Serial Rights”—if there still is such a thing! or “First World Rights”on the same story to two publications at once. But if you are sending out the same story at the same time to a number of different newspapers in different geographical areas (and not owned by the same company}, it can be regarded as self-syndication. That’s probably OK. Query letters also serve to reserve a place in the magazine’s future scheduled issues. If a magazine editor gives you the go-ahead for a story, the magazine won’t accept a similar subsequent story from another writer (unless the magazine is unethical, and this does happen).
Elements of a Query Letter:
—Address your query to a particular editor; (study the magazine’s masthead to see which editor is in charge of department or specialty, i.e. food editor, spa editor, cruise editor, if perhaps the travel magazine is very large. Choose the appropriate one.
—Keep the query short and sweet! Should be only ONE PAGE long if it's for one article idea. May be two pages if you are proposing more than one idea. There are pro’s and con’s about sending a query letter which proposes more than one idea. Some writers believe than sending more than one makes you compete against yourself (one by one they make take each idea at a time; all at once, they may choose only one.) I, however, feel it’s sometimes expedient to send more than one idea at once. Three ideas would be the max, unless you are proposing an idea for column or series. Then I think six would be appropriate.
—Hook the editor with your first sentence; get right to the point. —Indicate the focus and/or theme of your article. —Stress the originality of your approach, your information or insight —Don’t include too much information, just enough to tease the editor into wanting to read more —If you have high-quality photos to illustrate your article say so, and give a brief description of what they are. Do not send them unsolicited.
Structuring the Query Letter
One-page query letters are best. A query letter generally consists of four paragraphs or sections:
—The opening grabs the editors attention and presents your idea. —The second and third paragraphs expand your idea, gives further information or substantiation. You might choose to do this through presenting one or two anecdotes you will include in your story. —Following paragraph gives your credentials or qualifications to write the story, which may simply be that you took a trip to that place and saw such and such, or you are a birder and have travelled the world, and will write about the best birding in...France? Indiana? Your direct experience gives you authority. You don’t have to mention your credentials necessarily, unless they are quite pertinent. —Final paragraph is a persuasive closing. Be charming, upbeat or strike whatever positive tone you think is appropriate. I usually end with something like, “I look forward to hearing from you soon.”
Tips From Travel Editors on Query Letters & Travel Features
Below is a summary of what editors look for in a well executed query and a well written travel feature. Compliments of Jane Stokes, Society Of American Travel Writers S.A.T.W.
The Query
DO NOT send us a query without being thoroughly familiar with our magazine. We strongly encourage you to study several recent issues of the magazine. Thoroughly examine the voice and content. Good queries generally suggest how and when the proposed article will best fit into the magazine, and state compelling reasons why the story is right for us. In addition, they show that the writer has read the magazine and understands its content and readership.
Your query should include the following information: WHY you think the piece would be of interest to our readers and why you are qualified to write the piece. WHERE the information in the piece will come from. HOW you plan to organize your information (First person? A roundup of stories? Sidebars?). WHEN you'll be able to complete the piece. HOW LONG (final word count) the finished piece will be.
Be sure your query not only outlines the subject matter, but also indicates the approach you would take and how you would handle the material. Some points to remember when submitting a query are: —Keep your outline brief and to the point; —Spell out the ground you intend to cover; —Indicate the thread of the article and the conclusions, if any, you will draw. —One typewritten page usually does the trick.
Queries should describe the content, structure and tone of the article. Since editors receive many queries on the same topics, please be as specific as possible about what makes your idea unique. The best advice: Read and study the magazine!!!
What editors are looking for
—-The most successful contributions share certain characteristics, notably a strong sense of the author's personality and experiences, vivid reporting, a high literary quality, and, in the case of service-oriented departments, meaty practical information. One kind of story we will not use is a step-by-step account of what you did on your summer vacation—those golly-gee-it-was-fun stories. We get dozens a week and reject as many.
—Try to give your article a fresh point of view and, if at all possible, cover some out-of-the-ordinary subject matter. Your article must go beyond the self-serving listing of information doled out by visitor bureaus and PR firms. Work in quotes from visitors to the sites, or the participants in a particular activity, and let them express their thoughts about how they feel about a place or activity.
—Recreate the world you travelled through and let us see it through your eyes rather than simply telling us what you saw.
—Surprise us. Give us something out of the ordinary—something that only someone who was there would know. Do this by trying things, meeting people, getting involved in scenes as you travel. If you're a passive observer and don't tell us more than we can learn by reading a couple of guidebooks, we're not interested in your story.
—Use your senses and tell us what it feels like, smells like, tastes like. But avoid cliched descriptions and adjective overload.
—DON'T send personal travel diaries or generic circle tours that aim to say all and ultimately reveal nothing about a region. Focus your story idea and don't be afraid of specifics: name names and places. Give up your travel secrets! Editors like DETAILS.
—To stand out from the crowd, your story must have a personal voice and point of view. Remember that almost any place you write about has been written about before; your challenge is to find something new and original to say about it.
—Don't try to squeeze every aspect of a city or country into your story. Often a well-chosen vignette conveys a better feel for a place than a broad overview.
—Travel, the displacement from the familiar to the foreign— is rich in comedic possibilities, but rarely do editors get a story that makes us laugh.
— A good travel story is more than just a collection of random impressions; it has a definite theme. Decide at the beginning what point you want to get across about the place and then work your impressions around it. Set your sight on a narrowly defined subject. A common problem among new authors is attempting to cover too much in the context of a 500-word column or a 2,000-word manuscript.
—Editors like stories to be personal, original and literary, not the usual dry guidebook recounting of where-and-what. We want to sense the magic and wonder - or even squalor - of a place, to know what it means to go there, to know how the visitor might be changed by the journey.
—Editors are unhappy with writers who get their facts wrong.
—Take the personal approach. By this we don't necessarily mean writing in the first person, but rather take your own approach to a place you've visited or an adventure you've had. What was it that really excited or inspired you?
Style
—Editors want writers who understand grammar and syntax, who know how to gather accurate information, who write with clarity and without affectation, who know what their point is and get to it, and who exhibit intelligence and wit and style. —Good travel writing always "shows" rather than "tells." —The lead is the bait you use to lure readers into getting hooked on your story. Write and rewrite ones that grab your readers and pull them into your tale. —Please, no "majestic" mountains, "spectacular" canyons, "perched" or "quaint" villages. —Dialogue helps a travel story immeasurably, but few writers ever include it. —Brevity, clarity, and conciseness should be hallmarks of your article. Use active voice; it's almost always best. —We want our stories to have a light, bright, lively, fun tone; but accuracy and attention to detail are paramount. —Kick out redundancies or editors will.