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RE: You don't always need a query.


BrookBarb@aol.com wrote:

> Another reason for beginners to write it first is that they often have 
> not 
> developed the skills to write on demand. So if they get a firm go-ahead 
> off a 
> query, with a deadline, they might not be able to meet it. And one point 
> 
> about editors you left out is that reliability counts more with them 
> than 
> just talent. The best writer in the world who delivers everything late 
> doesn't impress editors as much as a mediocre writer who understands 
> deadline 
> pressures. So, until you develop the ability to write it when you need 
> to, 
> it's often better to write and submit complete stories rather than 
> queries. >

Yes.  Entirely right.  Editors want great stuff on time.  They'll settle 
for adequate stuff on time.  If it isn't on time it doesn't make any 
difference how wonderful it is.  It creates such huge hassles that 
nobody is going to assign a second piece.  

In addition, when you're starting out, if no one buys your pieces, at 
least you've got practice writing real pieces.  If no one buys your 
queries, all you've got is practice writing queries, which does not at 
all translate to writing pieces.

> 
> Next, a comment re: SASEs---which are, perhaps, the biggest joke in the 
> industry.
> 
> When I started in the business, more years ago than I care to remember, 
> I 
> dutifully enclosed an SASE with every submission. Bymeby, I'd get a 
> reply 
> from the editor---yes, no, or make me a better offer. And it was almost 
> _always_ in the magazine's letterhead envelope, more times than not with 
> a 
> postage label.

This hasn't been my experience.  My experience is that either a story is 
rejected using the SASE out of hand with a form, is rejected with a 
letter with a few remarks and an invitation to try them again, or is 
accepted via a cheerful phone call from the editor.  ("We really liked 
xxx.  How much do you want for it?")  It may depend upon the kinds of 
magazines.  Virtually all guidelines ask for a SASE, so I advise 
including it as a courtesy to the editor.  It's possible that you're 
dealing by mail with editors who know you or know of you.  For those, I 
pitch the story by phone rather than writing either a story or query.  
I'm talking about cold submissions outside of a field in which you are 
known, or submissions from beginners who aren't known at all in any 
field.      

There can be other reasons to just write the story that I left out of my 
first post that can apply even once you have enough credits to sell on 
contract.  Sometimes you don't know if you can do a particular story.  
You might be stretching way beyond where you have gone before.  You may 
have no idea how long it is going to take you to do it, even if you can. 
 Or you may not really know for sure exactly where you are going with 
the story, and want to just write it and let it happen.  

In addition, you might be in a personal or professional situation that 
makes dealing with deadlines difficult.  For example, if you are caring 
for an elderly, ill, or dying relative, you may not know from one week 
to the next whether you will have time.  In that case, you either need 
to do all writing way ahead of deadline to give yourself room for 
emergencies, or you need to avoid deadlines by writing first and then 
selling the work.  Also, some people work harder and more joyfully 
without a deadline.  Assignments have deadlines, and those deadlines 
really matter.  

Carol Deppe
Author of BREED YOUR OWN VEGETABLE VARIETIES:  THE GARDENER'S AND 
FARMER'S GUIDE TO PLANT BREEDING AND SEED SAVING (See table of contents, 
excerpts, & reviews at http://www.chelseagreen.com.)  

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