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[GWL]: Querys/Suggestions

Sheri --
I think we could answer much more usefully if we knew more about the 
situation.  What kind of publications are you approaching now?  Do they 
pay serious money, trivial money, nothing?  What about your writing 
experience?  Was it for serious, some, or no pay?  Are you just looking 
for more places to run your work, even if for free?  Or are you already 
getting good money, and looking for other situations that will pay good 
money?  Or are you trying to "move up" from free to paid writing, or 
from small pay to more?  

A few thoughts I have about your specific query letter.  

1)  First, this may be a matter of personal preference, but I never 
praise my own work.  I figure that every writer has a high opinion of 
her own work.  Self-praise at best is going to be completely ignored by 
any experienced editor.  At worst, it will be off-putting.  Either way, 
it communicates no real positive information, and has the potential to 
be counterproductive. So I would not say I was an "accomplished writer" 
or that my ideas were "fabulous" or that I "know I can make a major 
contribution to your publication."  That doesn't mean, however, that I 
wouldn't deliberately try to convince the editor of exactly all that.  I 
most definitely would.  However, I would be less direct and/or more 
sublte.   For example, I might quote blurbs or reviews by others about 
my work.  And I would include clips or copies or references to specific 
web pages with my work so that the prospective editor could quickly get 
an idea of what I can do.  I would also write the query itself as 
concisely and clearly as possible.  And as much as possible, that query 
would reflect the virtues of my writing.

2.  Show, don't tell.  Use specifics, not generalities.  For example, 
"over 22 years of experience" can mean you wrote and published two 
freebie bits in a little unpaid something or other 21 years ago and 
another recently.  It really doesn't mean much.  Have you done any major 
articles that the editor is likely to have read and remembered?  If so, 
refer to those.  Have you earned part of your living with newspaper 
work?  Mention the most compelling components.  If you have some 
"high-prestige" credits, mention the specific articles.  If not, mention 
the best you've done (by article title, year, and publication).  (Or web 
pages.)  

3.  I would say "I am a regular contributor to x, y, and z."  (Rather 
than a "freelance" anything.  Being a regular contributor to anything at 
all means something, because if you were too difficult to work with, you 
might have many credits, but not be a regular anywhere.  All of us in 
this game are looking for people who are easy to work with.

4.  I wouldn't come on so strong about wanting to work with any given 
publication.  Actually, I wouldn't know whether I wanted to work for the 
publication until I had talked with the editor about the first idea, and 
established the basics with respect to contract and money and delivery 
time.  Then, too, there is normally an initial courtship dance in which 
each tries to figure out what it is going to be like working with the 
other, as well as reassure the other that he/she is reasonable and 
courteous and fair as well as professional.  

5.  If I am familiar with the publication, I say so.  "I have been a 
subscriber to Smithsonian Magazine since it's founding back in xxx."     
 

6.  Why should the editor hire you to write some articles rather than 
the people already on board?  Somewhere you need to answer that 
question.  Are you a recognized expert in some field?  Do you have a 
specialization?  (Apparently you do. You've written several articles on 
tropical plants, have a column, and have a website on the subject.  You 
can claim expertise.) Do you have unique material or original story 
ideas?  (You can prove that in the course of the query.)  

7.  I would probably spend a paragraph proposing some specific topic for 
the specific publication.  Something brand new and obviously appropriate 
for them.  I might say, "I have a number of story ideas that might be 
suitable for (publication).  For example,..."  

I probably would not propose a whole list of original ideas to one 
editor I had never worked with, frankly.  


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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