As editor for CrossRiver Media Group, I receive submission queries that run the gamut from professional to spam. All too often, writers submit emails that don’t contain even the skeleton of a real query letter. Their email simply reads “here is XYZ for your review.”
Sometimes I responded to them, but often I don’t.
Increase your chances of editors reading your submission by learning to write a great query letter. Tweet this.
- Address your query to a specific editor
- Hook the editor with your idea in the first paragraph, then
- Give a further description of the article and write it in the tone and style of the market you’re submitting to
- Include the word count of your article (or anticipated count if you haven’t yet written it)
- Include information about why you are the right person to write the article
- Include your publication credits if you have them (if you don’t, then don’t mention it)
- Tell them if this is a simultaneous submission (you have submitted this idea to other markets at the same time)
A proper query is as essential as following the publication’s submission guidelines (uh-oh, did you read those?).
There are whole books dedicated to how to write query letters. Grab one from the library and study it. The Writer’s Digest Writer’s Market includes a “Query Letter Clinic.” It offers good and bad examples from which you can learn. Or do a Google search on “query letter examples” and study several.
Give the editor what he or she needs to catch your pitch, and you’re more likely to make a sale.