From Thought To Query

Author: Teri Pilcher

So you have an idea for an article. You want to sell an article based on this idea to an editor who will pay you big bucks and make you famous. As an ancient Chinese proverb states, “The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.” Turning your thought into a query letter is the first step toward your career as a famous writer.

Your thought needs to be carefully grown into a query letter. The exact shape it takes will depend on the publication you want to sell it to. Using a market guide to search a variety of publications, choose 3-5 possible target markets. For each of those markets, identify the theme, style, and audience. Find this information by analyzing sample issues from your library.

Idea:

An article about a Baltimore girl who rescues horses from the dog food factory.
Target Markets:

Baltimore Magazine, Horse, YM.
Theme, Style, Audience:

Baltimore Magazine – current news around Baltimore; newsy, conversational, punchy; read by affluent Marylanders

Horse – information for horse lovers, breeders, and riders; conversational; read by horse lovers of varying experience levels

YM – information for teen girls about beauty, fashion, and girls; upbeat, short style; read by teen girls ages 10-16

Study the last six issues of each of your possible markets to find out where your idea will fit best. Look to see if a similar article was published recently. If so, is your article different enough to interest readers? Is it similar enough to the published material to be relevant to the magazine?

If YM doesn’t publish articles about girls who make a difference, then your topic won’t fit here. Find a new market.
If Baltimore Magazine published an article two months ago about a boy who rescues injured owls, they probably will think your article is too similar.
If Horse publishes articles about horses in dangerous situations, but has never published an article about a person who did anything about it, then they’ll love your article idea. The topic is similar enough to their audience’s interests, yet is an angle they haven’t explored yet.

Is your article timely? Magazines have a 2-6 month lead time. This means that the article won’t be published until 2-6 months after the editor has told you he loves the completed manuscript. Plan articles at least that far in advance.

If the 3-year anniversary of the girl’s rescue efforts is in 4-6 months, this is a perfect time to submit the idea as a news article to Baltimore Magazine.

Analyze the style of the magazine and shape your idea to fit it. Here are a few questions to ask. As you answer them for each publication, enlarge your idea into a full-fledged article that meets the description. You may find that you end up with a completely different article for each publication. That’s great! Because you can query every publication with a different idea and sell the idea over and over.

How long are the articles?
Will your idea fit better as a department/column or a feature?
Do they use opinion pieces or essay pieces with anecdotes and expert quotes?
Are there sidebars? What is in them?
What’s the writing style? Punchy? Conversational? Informational?

Carefully describe the audience of each publication. Try to uncover the answers to the following categories. Looking at the advertisements, media kit, and articles will help you.

Age
Education level (What is the background knowledge of the average reader?)
Experiences (What can you assume that they know or don’t know?)
Interests

Now that you understand the publication, how will your idea match their needs? Shape your idea to fit each publication. Plan your approach.

Baltimore Magazine – Six months from now, Heather will be celebrating the 3-year anniversary of the day she scraped together enough money to save Green Hoof from the dog food factory. Since then, she has saved 10 horses and found them new homes in the Baltimore area.
Horse – Some might call them nags, but Heather calls the 10 horses she saved from the dog food factory friends. She hopes to encourage people in other communities to care for these loving, elderly animals. Horse lovers are needed to stop thousands of elderly horses from being killed every year.
YM – At the age of 15, Heather began “Luv My Horse” and adopted a horse that was going to be killed. She spent all the money she made at her job at the mall to buy more horses. She and her gal pals have made their own real-life Pony Club.

The examples are just a rough idea. You can see that the basic premise behind the focus for each magazine is the same, but the details brought out each time are slightly different.

If you’ve completed this market analysis and polished your idea, then it’s right for your target market. It’s on theme, matches the publication’s style, and appeals to their audience. You’re ready to take the next step and write your query letter.

author bio