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.

Structure Your E-mail Messages for Maximum Impact

Today, Email is an essential part of doing business. People use it to communicate daily. Some organizations have policies in place that treat E-mail as a business asset, not a personal asset. Thus, from a legal perspective, E-mail is admissible in court. Therefore, it should be given the same attention as traditional forms of correspondence. Let’s face it, for many business people Email has replaced traditional correspondence.

As a writer, it’s important for you to treat all your outgoing messages as if you're writing professional correspondence. Everyone judges you on how you write to them. They expect you, as a professional writer, to uphold the standards of grammar and sentence structure, no matter what the subject of the message.

And when you’re writing to a client or editor, it’s even more important. In most cases, the only way editors get an impression of you is through your Email messages.

Previously, freelance writers sent queries and text by regular mail, then sat back and waited for a reply. Today, using Email, replies come a lot faster. And while an editor may take a few days to reply to a query, it beats waiting weeks or even months for it. However, there are a few editors out there that still cling to the old ways. One editor of an online magazine insisted writers still send quieries and manuscripts by regular mail.

Follow these tips to make your Email messages communicate clearly:

    1. Address one topic per E-mail message.
        Many people reply to E-mail as they read it, so it’s easier to respond if you discuss only one topic per message. If you introduce several topics, they may postpone responding until they can address all the topics covered.
   
    2. Write an informative subject line.
        Phrase the subject line so that it tells the reader what to do in addition to what the message is about. A subject line may read "Send a copy of your  latest issue." A precise subject line can prompt a reader to read your message before others.
   
    3. Avoid long messages.
        Organize your message so that the most important information fits on the first screen. Try to avoid having the receiver scroll to read the remainder of the message.

    4. Make it easy for your reader to respond.
        Word your message so that the reader can get back to you with a "yes/no" answer or a short response. Where possible, use questions instead of statements. Instead of saying, "Let me know your thoughts on my article," ask "Are you going to publish my article?"
   
    5. Include the context of a message in your reply.
        Even if you read a message and respond to it quickly, your colleague may not read your response immediately. The topic may no longer be fresh in his or her mind. The "reply" feature on most e-mail systems allows you to reply to a message and attach the original document. OR, if it’s a longer message, copy section at a time and include your answer directly below it.
   
    6. Change the subject line to reflect a new topic when sending a new message from an old one. 
        Your Email program will automatically include “RE:” in the subject line of your reply. Should you click on a person’s previous message to send a new message, be sure to change the subject line to reflect the new topic. There’s nothing worse than going round and round with multiple “RE:’s” from previous messages. Changing the subject line to reflect a new subject also will help you and your receiver to catalog your messages.

    7. Don’t forget to follow-up if you receive no reply.
        Sometimes E-mail does get lost or dumped into an anti-spam folder and deleted. Allow a reasonable time to pass–hours or days–then send a second message, including a copy of the first message (forward your first message and add a brief note before the message. This is particularly important with time-sensitive material.

Spring Into Something Special

Spring is here once again—well, it is if you live in someplace warm. It’s a time for renewal and optimism, a time for looking beyond what you’ve accomplished into new waters. If you’ve been freelancing for a while and are just sort of floating along, perhaps it’s time to consider developing a specialty.

If you’re a good writer, you should be able to write about anything. Right? Not exactly. In the world of freelance writing, there are two groups, generalists and specialists. The former is a person who writes fairly well on just about any topic. These writers usually sell their work to local or regional publications. The latter is a person who writes knowledgeably and passionately about a particular subject.

The difference between these two types of writers is the difference between the words “subject” and “topic.” Understanding that difference can make a mediocre writer shine. A subject is a broad category, perhaps travel. A topic is a specific idea within the subject. You’d think that the two should be reversed for generalists and specialists. But they’re not.

As a generalist, you’ll write about a variety of topics, none of them in depth. Switching from one topic to a completely different one constantly uses a lot of energy and resources. You’ll have to do two or three times the research because you most likely won’t know anything about each topic. While some may be related, most won’t be.

But as a specialist, you’ll have studied a subject extensively. In short, you’ll become somewhat of an expert. So instead of writing about just one topic, you’ll write about many topics within the realm of that subject. Instead of writing about travel and switching from one country to another, you would write about just one country or group of countries, say Italy, in depth. But won’t that limit my markets, you ask? It might, but on the other hand, once editors get to know how much you know about a subject, they’ll seek you out.

So how do you go about developing a specialty. Learning about a particular subject can take years, but it’s possible to get a running start in about two years. That means you’ll still have to write generally while you’re learning.

The first step you want to take is to study the markets for your subject. If there has been a lot of writing done on it, then perhaps you should consider another subject altogether. However, if the topics you’re planning to write about are a bit overdone, you may want to consider others. If little has been written on the subject, say Norway, then perhaps the market isn’t big enough to specialize in that subject.

After you’ve researched the markets and decided whether to specialize in your subject, find one or two really good general books about the subject in which you plan to specialize. Read them not once but several times. Learn all about your subject.

Next, find articles on your subject and study them to see what other writers are doing on the same subject. Begin with your interests. If your specialty is Italy, what about that country interests you—history, food, culture, politics, etc.  Watch videos related to your subject.

Develop a network of resources. Search the Internet for Web sites and blogs specializing in your subject. Bookmark the sites and follow a few of the blogs. Subscribe to publications dealing with your subject, either in print or online.

Finally, and most importantly, begin to develop a network of contacts. You’ll need to know a variety of people who are knowledgeable about the topics you plan to write about.

After you’ve done all of the above, you’ll be ready to begin writing some short articles about your subject. Don’t make the mistake of diving in too deep and writing a definitive article about any topic within your subject area at first. At this point, you aren’t knowledgeable enough. Wait until you become an expert on the subject to do that.

Over the years, your knowledge about your subject will grow and so will your markets. Your articles will become more in-depth and insightful. Eventually, you may be doing half or more of your writing on that subject. And by that time, it may be a good idea to consider writing a book on it.

Getting the Flow of Ideas Started

Ideas are fleeting. If you don’t catch them in time, they’ll likely disappear. Your main source of material is your ideas, so as a writer you need to practice some idea-saving techniques. Granted, not all ideas are worth saving, but if you don’t do something when the idea enters your mind, you won’t know unless you save it.

Get your idea out of your mind and onto paper—any kind of paper. This might be a piece of scrap paper, a used envelope, or a page in an organized notebook. It really doesn’t matter, just as long as you write your ideas down. Above all, look for ideas that are ripe with meaning for your reader—not yourself.

The are two main methods for developing those bits of concentrated thought. The first is
brainstorming. This method uses word associations to develop lists of words that get more detailed as you go.

To begin, start with one word, preferably a noun. Under this word, list five to ten words that come to mind that are related to that word. Now take a word from that list and place it at the top of the page, then repeat the procedure from before. After completing the second list, repeat the whole process a third time so that you have three lists. Now look carefully at the original word and compare it to the last word in the third list. Notice how far removed or not it is from your original idea.

Brainstorming helps to empty your brain of related ideas. While you may not use any of the words you produce, some of them may spark new ideas of their own.

The second method for developing ideas on a subject is clustering. To begin, choose a word, again preferably a noun, and place it in a circle in the middle of a sheet of paper. Free associate branches of words fanning out from the center, each encircled and connected by a line to the original word. Some of the words you’ll come up with are details of words you have already, so place them in a circle connected by a line to the secondary word or subject that branches off from the original one. Let evocative words on the branches be nuclei for other branches.

Clustering enables you to develop groups of words on topics related to the main subject in the middle of the page. In this way, you’ll be able to focus your subject down to a narrower level.

And even though you generate lots of ideas, focusing them down so they’re manageable is important. To do so, you can start with the broader subject, then focus it down to a central idea which, in turn, can be focused even more to detailed questions that will help you decide exactly how you want to write about the subject. Remember, a subject is the broader term, a topic is what you write about.

For example, begin with the subject “holiday.” Under your Central Idea, list “Thanksgiving.” Finally, under Detailed Questions, try “ What are some Thanksgiving traditions?” Notice the difference between subjects and topics.

But to begin writing, you need to have more than a question. You need to have a Topic Statement, a simple statement about what your finished piece will be about and what it will try to accomplish on your given topic. Using a Topic Statement will help you achieve consistency in your writing.

You can take this focusing procedure one step further. While you’re at it, why not list as many detailed questions as you can think of concerning your Central Idea, in this case Thanksgiving. But what about a different Central Idea, say Christmas. Now you can do the same thing with a different holiday. And the list is endless.

Most writers have an idea and begin to write about it before developing it, not fully developing all its potential. You’ll soon discover it pays to do so. 

Share Your Gift

Christmas is a time for sharing and gift giving.  As a writer, you have a gift—a gift to share. And this is the time of year to do it.

Some people write letters to along with their holiday greeting cards. While these may be interesting to family and friends, they’re usually of little interest to acquaintances or business associates. As a freelance writer, you can use this opportunity to do something special.

If you write non-fiction, you can write a short article on a subject that interests you or that you specialize in. Remember it needs to be short—no more than one page single spaced. You’re probably used to writing much more, so writing something this short will be a challenge. But as a professional, you should be able to make this short piece as interesting and focused as a regular article for a magazine. The secret to be extremely focused. Take one small topic and elaborate on it. For instance, why not something on gingerbread. This could be as a piece focusing on a Christmas tradition, or a food decoration piece about making gingerbread houses, or something on the origins of gingerbread.

If you write fiction, you could write a very short story. Perhaps you’re used to writing short stories that are 10-20 pages long. You won’t have that luxury, so you’ll need to write a story that’s extremely short, but still has conflict and a climax. This will force you to have perhaps just one or two characters and action that takes place in a short span of time and at a single location. Let’s take the topic of gingerbread and see what sort of story you can write—perhaps a story about a gingerbread house that comes to life or a special gingerbread cookies or the story of a little girl who made special gingerbread cookies for a homeless person.

Whatever you write, your friends, family, and colleagues will appreciate it. But writing the story is only the beginning. Today, you have a number of ways of sharing your work with others.

With fewer people sending Christmas cards by regular, you may choose to send your story out by Email. Or perhaps you’ll choose to post it to your Web site. And with so many social media outlets available, you may want to post it as a note on your Facebook Page or perhaps post it on other social networking sites.

Whatever you decide to do, you’ll find it’s a great way to send greetings to those you love and also a great way to promote your work to those you’ve worked with throughout the year or those you hope to work with in the coming year.

Happy Holidays.

To Specialize or Not to Specialize

In marketing today, the catch word is “niche.” Practically every new business has to develop a niche market or it won’t survive in today’s tough economy. Niche marketing is all about targeting the right customers and for non-fiction writers in particular that means the right group of readers. Few magazines today publish general content. Most specialize in a particular subject area with its own group of dedicated readers. And to a non-fiction writer, like myself, targeting a group of readers means developing a specialty.

While some writers are generalists—writing about any subject for any market—the most successful ones specialize in writing about just one or two subjects.

So how do you develop a specialty? Begin by looking over the subjects you’ve written about already and see if you’ve written about some multiple times. If one subject stands out, perhaps, with some added subject and market research, you could develop it into a specialty. If none of the subjects you’ve previously written about stand out, consider you interests. Often specialties grow out of a writer’s special interests or hobbies.

Take my path for example. I began writing articles about traveling to various destinations because I like to do that. I wrote about all sorts of places, but go nowhere. Rejections piled up faster than I could write new articles. Eventually, after an eye-opening trip to Mexico, I began writing about that country. First a little, then more and more. Opportunities opened up for me to travel down to Mexico several times a year. By that time, I realized I liked writing about Mexico and discovered a wealth of topics to write about. So I began reading everything I could on the country while continuing to write about it. I explored lots of topics, from history to beaches to culture, food, and traditions. Soon over half the articles I was writing were on Mexico. I had developed a specialty.

One of my special interests is antiques. I love to collect things and to find out more about them, I began writing about them. At first, I wrote on antiques in my collection, then I started branching out to include ones I didn’t own. I found I especially liked writing about antique furniture. Eventually, writing about antiques and collectibles developed into a second specialty.

It takes as long as two years to fully develop a specialty. It’s not just a about gathering topics to write about, but also learning in depth about the subject and finding markets for your work.

The main advantage in specialization is the amount of knowledge you amass about a particular subject over time. The more you learn, the more opportunities will come your way as you become an expert on your chosen subject. And expertise is what you need to write books on your subject.

Look Before You Leap

When writing a book, most writers begin by doing just that. They bury themselves in researching their topic or story and spend months, if not years, writing about it. Sounds logical, doesn’t it? But how many of them actually get their book published?

In general, most people feel they have something so important to say that every publisher will want to publish their book and every reader will run out to buy it. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

This attitude of self-importance originates way back in school—as far back as first grade. Most teachers don’t mean to instill this in their students, it sort of happens through a process of educational osmosis. The teachers had it instilled in them by their teachers in a never-ending educational process. So what is a book writer to do? Market research.

Whether you plan to write a non-fiction or fiction book, it pays to take a look at the market for your idea—not your book. Take a trip to a good bookstore and browse through the books on your topic. This will tell you what’s being sold. Remember, most of the books on the shop’s shelves originated at least two years prior to you seeing them. Now stroll over to the sale tables. The books on these tables are remainders—leftovers that didn’t sell during the book’s most recent run. Many may be terrific, but for some reason didn’t hit the mark. Take notes, being sure to nor publishers names.

Next surf on over to Amazon.com, the world’s greatest book depository. Search for books on your topic. Amazon has practically everything in print. Do the same at their competitor, Barnes and Noble’s Web site. Take more notes, again being careful to note the names of publishers.

After all this research, review your notes and draw some conclusions about how viable your topic really is. Generally, too many books on your topic means the market is overloaded. Too few often means not enough readers are interested or the topic hasn’t been explored to any great degree by writers.

Armed with your conclusions, you’re ready to proceed with your book, modifying the topic to reflect market trends. It’s important to note that you shouldn’t cater to your topic’s market but be driven by it. Doing so will greatly enhance your chance of publication.