Query Letters and Introductory E-mails
You learned a lot about the general use of query letters in Chapter 5, but one thing you probably did not think too much about was the idea that your query letter is often your first contact with a given magazine's editor. It's worth a second thought, because it means that query letters can also be gateways to self-promotion opportunities.
Changing a Loss to a Win
Most writers, when their query letters are declined, feel at least some sense of rejection. The difference between beginning writers and professional writers in this sense is that the beginners tend to wallow in self-pity, while the pros immediately follow up on the lost job opportunity and try to win work with a second attempt.
The vast majority of magazine writers receive far more rejections than acceptances to their query letters. Having a query letter turned down is not a cause for slumping under your bed sheets and eating a half-gallon of ice cream. It's a simple fact of the magazine-writing business, and you need to learn to quickly overcome your disappointments.
How? By e-mailing or calling the editor who rejected the query and asking politely for suggestions on how to better meet the magazine's needs next time. It's a cheap and easy way to market yourself as someone who goes the extra mile, who doesn't blanch at the first sign of trouble, and who truly wants to land an assignment and help make the magazine great in the process. There is a danger in taking this tack, though: You don't want to seem needy or annoying. If an editor doesn't want to discuss her decision, then you must respect that choice.
On the other hand, a single, polite note or telephone inquiry can often pay off with big dividends. Even if your idea for an article was a poor fit for the editor's current needs, she may be looking to fill some other editorial hole down the line. Asking a basic question — “Is there another way I might be able to help you? Something else you need written for an upcoming issue?” — could put you in the right place at the right time for landing a gig.
Usually, it's better to follow up with editors via e-mail instead of on the telephone, where they may feel “pounced upon” with little time to think. Unless you know that an editor prefers to speak with writers on the phone, follow up your query letters with e-mails that give editors a chance to reconsider your skills at their leisure.
You can use a similar philosophy to contact editors even if you don't have a specific story idea to pitch in a query letter. Many professional writers send out introductory letters or e-mails to editors with whom they hope to work, following the same self-marketing notion that getting your name out there is often the best first step you can take.
Simple Introductions
An introductory letter or e-mail is just what it sounds like: a way of introducing yourself to an editor. It's not the same as a query letter, which proposes a specific article idea. Instead, an introductory e-mail or letter is a sort of alert for the editor who receives it, a way of notifying the editor that you are out there in the world, that you are looking for work, and that you believe you would be a good fit with his readers.
Even though introductory e-mails seem more casual than formal query letters, you should put the same amount of work into writing them. Know the publication that you are contacting, and offer a general sense of why your background is a good match for writing assignments that will appeal to the magazine's target audience.
A good introductory e-mail should be addressed to the appropriate editor — with his or her name spelled correctly — just as a query letter would be. However, instead of progressing into an actual story idea, the body of the introductory e-mail might read something like this: “In reading through the most recent edition of
With a short note like this, you will have conveyed that you read the editor's magazine, that you have access to sources appropriate for his audience, and that you are interested in brainstorming actual queries that will be on target for the magazine's future needs. That's a whole lot of good stuff in a short, easy-to-read, attention-grabbing space.
