I rarely come up with a single idea. I come up with them in multiples of three. That’s because I take the initial spark of an idea and try to transform it into something that would fit into a number of different magazines. So my query on how busy women can keep fit won’t just be sent to a women’s magazine, but a magazine for working women (”The One-Minute Fitness Program for Executives”), a parenting magazine (”Fitness Tips for the Time-Crunched Mommy”) and then maybe a general women’s magazine (”Fitness on a Stopwatch”).

That way, while the basic query letter remains essentially the same, I’ve reslanted it to meet the needs of several non-competing markets. Much better than simultaneously submitting!