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Re: You don't always need a query.

There is so much wisdom and excellent advice in the tips from Carol, below,
that I'd encourage everyone, certainly all beginners, to read it over
carefully, and probably too, print out a copy of it.

Tom Ogren
tloallergyfree@earthlink.net

----- Original Message -----
From: "Carol Deppe" <caroldeppe@yahoo.com>
To: <Gardenwriters@topica.com>
Sent: Tuesday, March 19, 2002 9:53 PM
Subject: [GWL]: You don't always need a query.


> A tip for beginners --
>
> You don't always need a query letter.  In some cases you are better off
> just writing the story and sending it in with a short cover letter.  For
> certain kinds of stories, you may need to write the whole thing even if
> you have serious credits.
>
> With humor, personal essays, poetry, or short stories (fiction), usually
> you just write them.  No one can tell whether they want to buy it until
> they see it.  Even extensive credentials might not help much.  You will
> probably need to just write it, then send it to an editor with a short
> cover letter.
>
> Many beginners spend years writing for free or almost for free, hoping
> someone will notice them and give them an actual real assignment.  And
> it often works.  However, it is only one possible career pattern for a
> writer.  Some writers start more or less at the top with a major sale
> for major money. If you can write a good enough story, you might be able
> to sell it to a major market right out of the gate.  Then you have
> "broken in."  You have your first major serious credit, the one that is
> the hardest to get.
>
> The first gardening piece I ever wrote was bought by Roger Swain at
> Horticulture.  The first humor piece I ever wrote was bought by Redbook.
>  In both cases, I wrote them first.  I actually never did a piece of
> writing for free until this year.
>
> To understand how to break in to a major magazine without long years of
> freebies, start by look at the situation from the point of view of the
> editor.  There is simply no reason to believe that an unknown can do a
> good story.  On top of that, beginning writers can be a pain just from
> their unfamiliarity with the business aspects (contracts and negotiating
> for example), or with the editing process.  ("What!?!  You want to
> change some of my pristine words???  Are you implying I'm not perfect?
> Surely you jest!"  (I actually said this to an editor once, but I was
> only kidding.)  (Experienced pros are likely to be mellow and
> cooperative about editing.  Beginners often feel that their work is so
> wonderful that it shouldn't be edited.)   There isn't much reason to do
> a contract with a beginner for a major article for major money.  It's a
> big risk, and for no reason.  There are plenty of regular writers to buy
> from whom the editor knows can do the job.  Furthermore, most editors
> really don't count most of the freebie or low-end writing you might do
> in order to impress them.
>
> However, if you send the editor an exciting, very original story, he is
> then not risking your being unable to deliver.  He still risks  that you
> might be a pain in the butt to work with.  But he will probably be
> willing to take a chance on you.
>
> If you send in a finished story, your lack of credentials doesn't
> matter.  The story IS your credential.  If you find yourself cringing at
> writing a query and enthusiastic about writing the story, consider just
> writing the story.  Your cover letter can give just the contact info on
> your letterhead, and a sentence or two saying, "Here is xxxx.  I hope
> you like it."
>
> To break you in to a major market, your story must be original.  It must
> be something that the editors of the magazine would not be running
> except for your contribution.  You can't recycle stories that you've
> seen elsewhere in order to create a break-in-quality piece.
>
> If you have looked in the magazine and said "I could write as well as
> that," it isn't relevant.  The routine stuff that is average for the
> magazine is most often cranked out faster and cheaper by staff.  To
> break in, you need to offer something much better than the norm for the
> magazine.
>
> Keep your cover letter short.  Don't try to tell the editor that he will
> like the story.  Don't say anything about how great it is.  The editor
> will be cynical about such remarks, so it's better to be low-key.  Don't
> say who else likes the story.  The editor only cares whether HE likes
> the story.  Don't claim writing experience or credits if it was for free
> unless they are high-prestige-free (such as certain literary magazines.)
>  Not in this context.  An editor at a major magazine is not going to be
> impressed by your editing or contributing to your high school yearbook,
> or, for that matter, by any amount of vanity-published books, or by any
> amount of writing for free on the web, or any kind of self-publishing.
> Usually.
>
> In fact, plenty of "real" credits "don't count" with various editors in
> various contexts.  A fiction editor may be totally unimpressed by all
> nonfiction credits and vice versa, for example.  An editor may discount
> all short pieces and count only articles with serious numbers of pages.
> Many editors "count" only magazines at the same or higher "prestige
> level" as their own, or in the same field.    However, When you submit a
> complete story, the story itself is your evidence.  Your credits or lack
> thereof is no longer the major issue.
>
> Don't bother feeling arrogant about your writing.  It is often
> instructive, and usefully humbling, to look up the editor you're
> submitting to.  He or she very often has an impressive track record as a
> writer, with major pieces in all the most prestigious magazines
> including the one he/she edits, even multiple book credits, etc.  There
> may be some editors who are strictly editors, but not very many in the
> magazine world.  Most are writers too, and, if you are a beginner,
> writers with way more credits than you.
>
> Beginning writers are often incredibly arrogant.  A SF-writing friend of
> mine says she thinks it is because the beginner compares the credits and
> accomplishments he imagines himself having some day with the credits and
> accomplishments other people really have.  An editor may convince
> himself that he is willing to try out a beginner, but that doesn't mean
> he will put up very long with an arrogant beginner.  And your real
> object, of course, is to sell the SECOND story.  So keep your situation
> in perspective.
>
> A big disadvantage to just writing the story is of course that you have
> no guarantee that anyone will buy the story.  So it's best to start with
> a story for which there are multiple market possibilities, not one that
> would only work in one particular magazine.
>
> A second disadvantage is that you will probably not get nearly as much
> money for a story that you have already written.  If you have the option
> of selling a major story for major money on a contract, you will
> probably get more than if you write it first.  This is because you have
> more leverage when you haven't yet done the work and can easily just not
> do it.  But if you have no major credits, you probably don't have the
> option of making a major sale on contract.  And getting the first major
> credit is probably more important than the money.
>
> Use proper manuscript format.  Unless info from the magazine says
> otherwise, use mail, not email.  Double space.  (Don't use 1 1/2 line
> feed.)  Use generous margins.  Use good quality black printer ribbons.
> Most editors will not read faded print, single-spaced stuff, or anything
> that runs margin to margin.  It is just too hard to read.  Editors do
> huge amounts of reading, and they simply cannot afford to abuse their
> eyes any more than is unavoidable.  Enclose a self-addressed-stamped
> envelope for the reply.
>
> Little copyright signs on manuscripts, by the way, are an almost sure
> indicator of a beginner.  Leave them off anything you send to a
> professional editor.  (You might want to put them on stories you are
> circulating among non-writer friends who might not understand the
> legalisms.)
>
> I suggest that you send your manuscript to just one editor or magazine
> at a time.  (If you submit to many places at once, you might have the
> story bought by a less-coveted magazine instead of the most desirable
> one that wants it.  Send to where you would most like to be published
> first.)  In my opinion, two months is a reasonable time to wait for a
> response.  If you have not heard in two months, write the submission
> off, print another copy, and send it somewhere else.  Don't call or
> write to find out what happened to your ms.  Just write it off.  They
> might have simply thrown away all the slush pile that month.  They are
> under no obligation to read unsolicited mss or queries from anybody.
> The good "finds" per hour of work are almost nil.  Consider it an act of
> generosity that many magazines still read unsolicited submissions at
> all.
>
> If someone answers your approach later than the two months, go ahead and
> sell them the piece.  However, quickly write to wherever you have
> subsequently sent the story and withdraw it so that the editor does not
> waste time on a story that is not available.
>
> If you're doing fiction short stories, this pattern of write-it-first
> and then circulate it is the norm.  You just write, and you take your
> risks.
>
> So if you find yourself more excited about doing the story than the
> query, and willing to take a gamble, try just doing the story.  And,
> hey, best of luck!!!
>
>
> 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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