Do E-queries Work?

Not long ago, freelance writers had visions of no stamps, no self-addressed stamped envelopes, and no prepaid reply postcards. They also wished that someday they wouldn’t have to use 25 percent rag-content ivory stock for your query, contained on a single page surrounded by one-inch margins. Their dreams came true with the advent of electronic mail, commonly known as Email.

Email had the potential of liberating freelance writers from these hallowed but time-consuming and expensive procedures. Though the majority of queries still arrived  by regular mail, the electronic query would soon become standard.

But just as Email has done nothing to elevate the art of direct-to-consumer advertising, neither has it made queries any better. If anything, bad E-queries are even more annoying to editors than bad paper queries. If you do anything with Email, you know how aggravating spam can be in your own inbox, so you know how editors feel about inappropriate queries.

First rule of E-queries is not to send them unless you know the editor wants them. Believe it or not, an editor of an online e-zine refused to accept E-queries. Now how ridiculous is that? Don’t assume that all editors are fine with E-queries. If they’re under 30, they probably are, but those over 30 have the same problem as everyone else in that age category—they learned about computers after they were set in their ways. So check marketing directories to find out which editors are okay with E-queries before you send them.

Even if an editor accepts E-queries, it won’t be through his or her personal Email address. Search out their business Email or, better yet, find out if the publication has a special address just for E-queries. Do a search on Google for the publication’s name and go to their site for explicit instructions.

So what should an E-query contain? If you’ve sent paper queries by regular mail, you already know. What most people, especially writers, don’t realize is that the “electronic” in Email refers to the delivery system, not the format or content. In fact, you could send a copy of a one-page query you did previously, and an editor would receive it in exactly the same way. In either case, the editor looks at the content to see if he or she has recently run an article on this topic and then replies to let you know if you should send it.

The abbreviated message most often seen in Emails got its start with college students who saw Email as a way to defy the rules of letter writing and composition. So over time, everyone adopted this form and consequently some messages became almost unintelligible. Remember, an E-query is an electronic form of a business letter and must be professionally written and formatted.

Start by placing the proposed title of your article in the subject line. Then place your name, address, and phone number—both home and cell—in the upper right corner. Be sure to only use initial capitals, as anything else will be viewed as spam. The body of your Email query should be exactly the same as the body of your paper one, including the date, salutation and signature. It’s okay to just type your name in the signature line, but if you can create a signature using a script font in your word processing program, you can use it. Create this once and save it for future use

Keep the length of your E-query the same as your paper query. In fact, you may find it easier to write your query in your word processor, then copy and paste it into your Email. Remember, your main points still need to include why this topic will interest the publication’s readers, why you're the best person to write about it, how you'll develop the article, and when you'll be able to deliver it and with what kind of artwork or photography.

As with paper queries, use a block paragraph format and close by asking the editor if he or she is interested.

Response times tend to be faster with E-queries than with paper ones, because it's easier to respond. Some publications will acknowledge receipt of your E-query within a day. If you haven't heard back within a month, you should feel free to make a politely-worded inquiry as to whether the editor received your query and include a copy in case it wasn't.

The main difference between a paper query and an E-query is how you handle clips. While you would include copies of recent clips with your paper query, you’ll have to send them as attachments with your E-query. Scan each clip, saving it as a JPEG image file. Be sure the image is large enough for the editor to read. Then attach it to your E-query. Don’t send more than three clips as attachments. Be selective and send your best ones that are on the same topic as your proposed article or a related one.

Lastly, just as with paper queries, keep a record of the E-queries you have out, including the date sent and to whom, so that you can follow up on ones that for which you haven’t received replies.

Creating Your Own Playbook

Before a football team goes out on the field to play the opposition, they have to learn the plays in a playbook, assembled by the coach. Without these plays, the game would be chaotic, plus there wouldn’t be any way for one team to defend itself against the other. And so it is with freelance writing.

Most beginning writers don’t give any thought to planning much of anything. They’ve been taught in school that ideas and words will just flow out of their brain like magic. But what most of them soon realize is that doesn’t happen—at least not very often. Plus, even though they think they know how to write, they probably don’t, and surely they really don’t know how to write whatever form they choose—articles, short stories, novels, non-fiction books, plays and screenplays.

There’s no set playbook out there. The truth is that you have to create your own, based on your writing skill level and interests. You have to do what works best for you.

To begin, you need to decide how you’re going to learn about how to do the type of writing you want to do. Will you take a course or two or three, or will you learn on your own. Taking classes is obviously the easiest way, but it may not afford you the information you want and need.  If you’re at all self disciplined, you can teach yourself.

Today, the Internet provides a wide variety of resources for the beginning writer. Plus, there are books specifically written about the type of writing you want to do.

Search the Internet for how-to articles and examples of the writing you want to do. Print out the ones that you think will help you to understand this kind of writing. Get yourself a looseleaf binder and some dividers and assemble your playbook. You won’t be doing this all at once, so make sure you have enough room in the binder.

Look for information about getting ideas,  formatting, marketing, blocking, and developing a style, and most importantly, information on how to write articles, short stories, or whatever particular type of writing you’ve chosen. Each type of writing has its own rules and formatting. Learn what they are and start practicing them from the start.

After you’ve assembled your playbook, choose an article, story, or book idea and begin to work on it using the information you’ve gathered as a guide. Essentially, you’re creating your own guidebook. Use your playbook over and over until you’ve developed your own procedures and writing whatever you decide on becomes second nature.

At first you’ll follow the directions slowly, making sure to get the format of your writing correct. Then using the examples of writing like what you’re working on, continue building your article, story, or book. When you get it finished, use the marketing information to send your work to publishers.

As you continue to write, find better examples to analyze and make notes to add to your playbook. Nothing beats your own notes. While you can learn a lot from reading online or in books, having notes you made from these sources will help you tremendously. You can even assemble a virtual playbook for your tablet or e-reader instead of the paper variety.

Now that you have your playbook, get out on the field and win the game. 

The Business Side of Photos for Freelancers

Adding photography to the list of talents you offer editors will greatly increase your odds at getting published. After you purchase a digital camera and get some instruction in using it, you’re almost ready. Before you start taking photos to accompany your articles, there are a couple of things you should know about.

The kind of photos you take of your family and on your vacations just won’t do. These more then likely are snapshots, quick shots you take on the fly without much thinking. To create good photographs, you’ll need to know what you need to illustrate your work.

Before you begin taking your own photos, study the photos used with articles in the magazines or other publications in which you want to be published. Notice how many people are in them, what information they convey to the reader, and whether they’re in horizontal (landscape) or vertical (portrait) format. Search for the listings for these periodicals in Writer’s Digest’s Writer’s Market or some other market directory. Read what the editors require in photos or contact them to get a copy of their publication’s photo guidelines.

While you’re at it, check to see what they’re looking for in cover photos. Photographers working regularly with these periodicals usually do the covers, but it doesn’t hurt to check. Remember, cover shots are always in portrait format. Be sure to leave an area clear of objects and such at the top for the magazine’s title. Keep cover shots simple, especially if the publication places other text on it. Again, check back issues of whatever periodical you plan to shoot a cover shot for to see what they’ve done in the past. A good way to increase your odds here is to include several good cover shots in the selection you send along with your article. If the editor places your article in a prominent place in the magazine, chances are good that he or she might choose to use one of your cover shots to lead readers to it.

When composing your shots, be sure to get in close. Always imagine that your photo will be printed no longer than a quarter of a page. If it’s that small, the closer you are to your subject the better. Also avoid crowds of people. Unless the art director—the person who ultimately lays out your article and photos—decides to make one or more of your shots double-page spreads, readers will be barely able to see the people in the crowd.

Art directors of today’s periodicals like their photos to be bold and graphic. They’ve learned from the pages on the Web and want to make their pages stand out, too.

Good exposure is paramount. If you can’t figure out how to refine your exposure or are just starting out, shot everything on AUTO. No one will know. It’s the end photograph that counts. If it’s a good one, you’ve succeeded, no matter how you got there.

Another photo selling point is to give editors a good selection of photos. Let them choose which ones they want to use. How many photos you send along depends on the length of the article and status of the magazine. For short pieces in lower-paying markets, three or four photos might do, but for longer pieces in higher-paying markets, you might send up to 20.

Today, most digital cameras have rather high megapixel resolution. That means that the photos they produce are huge—too big to send along with your article text. Before you send your photos, you’ll need to resize them and change their resolution to 300 or 600 dpi (dots per inch). Make each photo 6x8 inches or 7.5x10 inches by 300 or 600. The higher the resolution number, the larger the image file size.

Freelance writers used to send their photos as slides or color prints. Today, almost all photography is done digitally and sent electronically. If you don’t know how to attach photos to your Email messages, you better learn fast. When you have a larger amount of images to send, send several messages, attaching three or four image files to each message. Most likely your editor will have high-speed Internet service, but even so it’s best to break up your photo group in case one or more of the messages drops into the black hole of cyberspace.

Some publications pay extra for photos while others include them in an article/photo package. If some of the periodicals you want to work with don’t pay very much, you might consider letting the editor know where he or she can obtain stock photos to use with your article. If you’re not getting paid extra for your photos—or at least enough for the package—you might want to forego taking your own in favor of using others that are readily available.

Learn how to use a digital camera and shoot photos with some imagination. Shots with different angles, shots with different lenses, shots with impact are the ones editors like.