What’s In A Query Letter, Anyway?

The most common error I’ve seen as a magazine editor is a writer sending in a query letter without pitching any ideas. The email usually reads something along the lines of "I can write anything. Just tell me what you want." Or, more realistically, "I cn write anyting. Wat U want?" We’ll deal with the very bad English in another post.

Uh, no. That’s not how it works, and I’ve got to tell you, it gets tiring getting that type of query letter. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 90 percent or more of our query letters say something like that. This, from people who claim to be writers but don’t necessarily provide any credentials and send emails that are riddled with spelling, punctuation, and grammatical errors.

Fahim responds even to these because we need more writers for the magazine. When he asks for article ideas or asks the writer to submit a writing sample, at least 90 percent of the time, he never hears from that writer again. It could be because the writer is no longer interested, or it could be because the writer is using a free email service like Yahoo! that blacklists domains at random. Seriously, Yahoo! spam filters suck the big one and if you’re still using Yahoo! for your email, you shouldn’t be unless you also regularly check your spam box, which, let’s be honest here, most people don’t. But this is another rant for another day.

But a brief interruption. In this series, there’s one thing I want to stress. I am not picking on Sri Lankan writers. Sure, they make these mistakes, too, but these mistakes are not at all exclusive to Sri Lankans. The queries we got from North American writers made the same mistakes.

So what’s a writer to do? Show the editor that you know enough about the magazine that you can write something relevant and timely. Give a few suggestions on articles you can write with an interesting slant. We don’t want boring same-old same-old dry-as-dust articles. We want something that’s educational and informative, but also interesting and fun to read. We even like humour! Shocking, I know!

Since I’m talking from the perspective of the magazine I work for, let’s start by explaining that C3 is about computers, communications, and consumer electronics. It’s not about programming in any language for any platform. It’s not about Linux. It’s not a hardcore geek magazine directed specifically at hardcore alpha geeks – there simply isn’t enough of those types of people in this country to make this type of magazine financially viable.

This magazine is geared towards the average consumer who doesn’t have an in-depth knowledge of computers, isn’t a hard-core geek, and probably doesn’t know all the lingo. Our articles are geared specifically towards explaining things in a way that the average Joe or Rohit or Sanka can understand and can become more informed through plain language, not geek-speak. And the lineup of the magazine was very carefully planned and considered before it ever went to print with the first issue, as with the vast majority of magazines in print the world over.

We have hardware reviews on computer components, notebooks, computer accessories (mice, keyboards, notebook coolers), mobile phones and accessories, games (casual, Wii, XBox, MMORPG, games for PC and Mac, and so on), mp3 players, digital cameras and videocameras, projectors, and so on. We’ve had articles on blogging, Internet scams, GoogleMaps, digital photography including explaining terminology and talk about wildlife photography, image hosting sites, blog aggregators, NaNoWriMo – anything that we think will appeal to and be useful for the average computer user.

So then we receive an email from a would-be writer telling us that we need to change the focus of the magazine to the LINUX operating system or LINUX applications. Or another writer suggests that we should include a series of articles on programming.

I wonder if these people even read the magazine. At all. Even one page. Or the cover, even?

And you know how you’ve (probably) read that you should read at least three issues of the magazine to get a feel for it? This is why.

If the writer has such a poor idea of what the magazine is about, is that writer capable of writing an appropriate article?

As a writer, you don’t want to give the editor a reason to round-file the query. You want to give the editor a reason to hire you.

It’s your job to come up with relevant and appropriate ideas to pitch, to provide the editor with ideas on how to slant the article for the particular magazine you’re submitting to. It’s your job to tell the editor what you’re interested in writing and what you’re capable of writing. It’s your job to sell yourself and your writing to the editor.

A writer who can come up with ideas with new and interesting, yet relevant, slants will probably find that s/he gets more work.

A query letter should contain:

At least one, preferably three or four, ideas for relevant articles, also indicating which specific sections of the magazine these ideas would fit.
An indication of writing experience, if any. If the writer is previously published, list two or three of the most relevant pieces and be ready to provide clips if requested. If not, don’t mention it at all.
Contact information that works. And then add the C3 domain (or other relevant domains) to your email whitelist so our emails to you do not bounce or go into your junk mail folder. It’s honestly not our fault if you’re using Yahoo! and they don’t know a legitimate domain from a pepperoni pizza. Yes, I am picking on Yahoo!. They deserve it.
Proper English (or whatever your language of choice is) with proper punctuation, spelling, grammar, and capitalization. No chat speak or leet speak. Really.

A query letter doesn’t have to be long – it can be very much to the point. At the end of this, I’ll provide a sample query letter or two. If anyone wants to offer up a query letter that worked for them, please email me (laurie at laurieashton dot com) and I’ll post it, giving proper credit and a link to your site/blog.

And whatever you do, proofread the query letter before you send it out.

The bottom line is that if a writer can’t get even these basics right, then it’s unlikely that that writer will get even a second glance before the query letter is deleted or round-filed.

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This post is part of a series. They can be found here: