© 2003, Janet Lorimer When Her Highness, the Gila Queen, put out a general request for article ideas for the marketing guide, I instantly responded. "Query letters and cover letters. Those are two of my biggest writing dilemmas. What to say and how to say it and--" "Wonderful!" she replied. "How soon can you write this article?" Uh, well, I kinda hoped someone else would, someone who knows much more about these subjects than I. That's when I discovered that I'm not the only one who feels uncomfortable about such letters. A writer friend tells me she spends as much time writing query and cover letters as she does on the manuscript itself. So, for what it's worth, here's what I know. Query letters are written when you want to interest an editor in an article or book that you're planning to write or have already written. A query letter is your introduction to the editor. It's similar to a job interview in which you sell yourself to an employer. It's also a time-saver; it takes less time for editors to review a one-page letter than an entire manuscript. That's why they usually ask writers to query first. By the same token, you have one page in which to sell not only your subject but your writing abilities. That one page can make or break you. Every word, every bit of punctuation, all spelling and grammar must be perfect. There is no room for sloppy work in your query letter. Errors will stand out like signposts. As for the content, you have approximately three-four paragraphs in which to sell yourself and your idea. The opening paragraph is your hook. You have to grab the editor's attention, just as you do in the manuscript. One way is with statistics. For example: "They are called The Children of the Damned and, by conservative estimates, one is born every 90 seconds." Another technique is to open with a vignette. "Billy looks like any other adorable baby, until you try to pick him up. He arches his back, as if your touch is pure poison, and begins to scream, a high feline-sounding wail." (Hopefully the editor is now thinking, "Who or what are these children?" And now hooked, reads on! Just for the record, these two examples come from material I'm researching on crack babies.) Then there's humor. "Okay, so you're up. You've pried your eyelids open, bumped your way into the kitchen, and rattled an assortment of cooking utensils, not so much to accomplish anything as to wake up the rest of the house. After all, if you can't sleep, darn it, nobody should. Breakfast! The very thought of cooking sends chills down your spine, but on the other hand, experts tell us that breakfast is the most important meal of the day." (That opening hooked an editor, and I subsequently sold this piece on the importance of breakfast, partly, I suspect, because of my humorous approach to a normally serious subject.) Once you've grabbed your reader, you use the second paragraph to tell what it is you're selling. With the breakfast piece, I continued: "Would you be interested in a 1500-word article entitled HOW TO MAKE BREAKFAST YOUR FAVORITE MEAL?" Your second paragraph shows you've done your homework. You've researched the editor's needs through marketing guides like The Gila Queen, and, if possible, you've studied several back issues of the magazine. So if the editor is seeking articles 1500-2000 words, don't try to sell a 3000-word piece. And be sure your article is right for the magazine. Don't try selling an article on the joys of meat to Vegetarian Times. Now for the wrap-up. What makes you the perfect person to write this piece? Here's where you tout your publishing credits and/or your expertise and/or the research you've done. If you've sold articles in the same vein, mention what you've sold and who you sold them to. If you've never sold this type of article before, you should mention a few publications you have sold to, as well as the research you put in for this particular piece. If you have no publishing credits, talk about your expertise. For the breakfast article, I mentioned that I was the only mother in my neighborhood who prepared breakfast for her family every morning, and that these were recipes and short-cuts I'd devised to create quick n easy nutritious breakfasts. Be sure to enclose SASE. Then wait. Hopefully you'll get a positive reply. Chances are the editor may offer to look at the article on speculation, which means you still haven't made a definite sale, but you do have your foot in the door. Cover letters accompany a manuscript. If I've already made contact with the editor via a query letter, I use the cover letter to say that this is the piece the editor agreed to look at, and I thank the editor for considering the enclosed submission. This may not be strictly necessary, but I prefer the personal touch. Cover letters may also accompany a short story, and this is the type that really makes me nervous. Writer's Digest once published an article by Marion Zimmer Bradley on this very subject. It was entitled DEAR EDITOR...STOP RIGHT THERE! I still have the article. I reread it on days when I don't think my blood pressure is high enough. Technically it's a wonderful, informative article, but it's also a little intimidating, especially for beginning writers, which is what I was when I first read it. Ms. Bradley dissects the typical cover letter, pointing out the information you don't need to include. Enclosed is a short story...(what else would you be sending a fiction magazine?)...3000 words...entitled...(the word count appears on page 1 of the manuscript, as does the title). This is a story about...(the editor will find out when he or she reads the manuscript). Ms. Bradley leaves us with the message that essentially cover letters aren't necessary, except to let the editor know if you've had anything published before, and even that may not help if you're trying to sell an adult fantasy story but all you've had published is a picture book and an article on raising guppies. Needless to say, the few times I submitted a story to Ms. Bradley, I did not include a cover letter. Some editors do want cover letters and some don't, but most won't tell you one way or the other. (Ha! It's a secret not even the CIA can uncover!) So what's an already nervous, highly stressed writer to do? My agent gave me the best piece of advice. Editors are human (yes, especially our beloved Queen) and they like to think that the manuscript you're sending was written just for them (it was, Kathy, just for you). My agent recommended that I open with something special about the story, such as what led me to write it. Here's the opening I used for a short story, AN EVENING AT DEMPKE'S, which I subsequently sold to Analog: "With the rapid crowding of our planet and our current need to recycle, what will we do, in the future, with our dearly departed? That question led me to write the enclosed, ghoulishly humorous story." I use the second paragraph of the cover letter to list any relevant publishing credits. Because Analog publishes science fiction, I listed the science fiction stories I'd sold. If I have no relevant credits, I mention a few current sales to show that I have been published ... uh, somewhere! Or, again, this is the paragraph where you might talk about the expertise you have. Had I ever worked in a crematorium, I would have said so, since a crematorium played an integral part in the story. I always end by thanking the editor for considering my submission. Remember, whether editors accept or reject your manuscript, they'll remember the writer who is professional and courteous. Back to my suitability for writing this article. When my daughter, Kerry, enrolled in a college English class, the students were asked to read a book entitled RUSSIAN JOURNAL. Then, pretending to be journalists who'd just returned from a six-week tour of Russia, they were assigned to write mock query letters, offering to write a series of articles about their trip, to the editor of a local newspaper. Kerry came to me for advice. I allowed as how query letters make me break out in hives, but I hauled out every writer's manual I own to help her. I emphasized the importance of that initial hook' and she dutifully wrote what I thought was a dynamite opening paragraph. A week later she came home in a rage. The teacher had verbally ripped her query letter apart, especially--you guessed it!--the opening paragraph. When Kerry asked what was wrong with it, the teacher responded, "You make it sound like you're trying to sell something." Uh, your Majesty, about that article on query letters and cover letters....
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