How to Write an Attention-Getting Query

Excellent advice. I’ll be stoked to see that story in Wend!

Great tips–I think the second section, for as-yet-unestablished writers, is particularly helpful.

Thanks for the tips!

I am thrilled to be featured here. Thank you so much!

Thanks for the tips.

I believe it helps to be concise and to the point. It also helps to understand the publication: What types of articles do they publish? Who is the editor? Do you have the proper spelling of the editor’s name? What will “hook” the editor? Do you have a video/picture to accompany your inquiry?

New writers may consider writing for free. This way they’ll be able to build up a portfolio. They’ll be able to say, “…I wrote for such and such publication/organization. Here’s a link to my site/article.” Just don’t make a habit of writing for free.

Awesome tips David – that “knowing the publication” is so key…as a new editor myself, I’ve seen submissions where the writer clearly wasn’t familiar with Matador’s style.

Agreed, Carlo. It’s obvious when someone doesn’t familiarize themselves. Pitches seem absurd without the proper background, too.

Good tips!

To this list of tips, I’d add one more: don’t send editors your entire publication resume unless they ask for it. There are lots of things that send my finger hovering over the delete button, but one is when the writer directs me to dozens of different sites or sends me to a single site that doesn’t link to one specific piece of writing. The Wend pitch also works for this reason. The writer may well have an impressive publishing resume, but few editors are able to read through every past clip. If we want more clips, we’ll ask for them. We can actually tell quite a bit about your writing style from the query or pitch itself. (And yes, spelling and grammar matter).

Think these tips apply to the big fish as well? Lonely Planet, National Geographic…?

Turner-

I think these tips apply even MORE to the “big fish.”

Thanks for the tips! I especially appreciated the second query example for unestablished writers!

Great article – sooo helpful!! Thanks a bunch.

Thanks Erin.

Timeless advice, that’s worth revisiting, and so I have!

Great tips!

But also worth keeping in mind that what one editor considers to be a good pitch, another will think is a bad one – some prefer a concise pitch first up and lots of detail later if they’re interested, some like to have it all in one email and don’t have time or wish to ‘to and fro’. The tricky part is figuring out how each of your editors likes to work and that can take time.

What I find super-frustrating though is that sometimes the pitch I spend hours on doesn’t get a single response, but one I rushed to write in 10 minutes in response to an editor’s call for stories secures the commission.

And sometimes it’s simply a matter of timeliness. Editors might just not be interested in the stories you are right now. I’ve had editors come back to me 1-2 years later wanting the story I had pitched them way back. I’ve also had editors say “not interested in Barcelona but can you do something on Singapore?” which is both frustrating (if I don’t have fresh material on Singapore) and wonderful (cause it means they like how I write.)