How to write an effective query letter

Any query letter or email that you send to an editor of a magazine or newspaper is your showpiece. It is your sales tool and reflects your finished product – your article or feature. So, you need to ensure the letter is clear and professional. There are four basic parts to a successful query letter:

1. Attention
2. Interest
3. Action
4. Confidence

Attention

You need to get straight to the point. Editors are busy people! Tell them what your article or feature is about and describe the theme. Make sure that the editor can see the relevance of your piece quickly and easily. There is little point of describing an article that does not fit the magazine’s niche.

Interest

Now that you have caught the editor’s attention, you need to develop their interest in your proposed article. In other words, you want the editor to read the material you have sent! Remember, any article or feature that promises to interest a large group of the editor’s readers is likely to be of interest to the editor.

Action – Request a response

Your query letter must ask for a response. Do not assume that you can bluff an editor by saying other publications are queuing up for your article – they’ve heard this line many times before. Instead, simply state that due to your schedule, you would appreciate an early response and then give your email address and telephone number.

Confidence

When you are sending unsolicited correspondence to an editor, they need to have confidence in the assignment if they are going to accept a piece of writing they have not yet seen.

One of the best ways to gain their confidence is to mention your previous writing experience, listing publications that have published your past work. Leave out if you have not yet had any work published or if the publication is very obscure and practically unheard of. Never ever confess that you have never written a feature or article before! However, do mention any qualifications you have that will make you qualified to write the article or feature. For example, if you have a degree in economics, it could make you well-qualified to write about investments or banking procedures. Raising your credibility raises the editor’s confidence in your ability.

In the future, your credits will be too numerous to list, so choose those which apply the most to the feature or article you are proposing.