By popular demand, I’m going to start sharing some of my successful query letters.

(I appreciate all feedback, positive or negative. If there’s something you would like me to talk about on this blog, please do let me know. We have readers from about 50 countries, and sometimes, I don’t know which topics would be the most popular. Also, if you leave comments, you’ll get good karma. ;))

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Dear <Name of Editor>,

As a new freelance writer almost two years ago, I didn’t like the $4,000-a-year freelance writing income statistics I saw. Determined to make a good living from the freelance business, I decided to target markets that would give me a higher pay-off for my words. I targeted international markets, leading to my first assignment from an Indian magazine, my second sale to a newspaper in the US, and my third published credit from a start-up in Australia.

Today, even though my main markets are located in USA, Canada and England, I continue to sell reprints to various other countries, netting me a lot of extra cash for no additional work done. This has not only increased my bottom line, but also opened up a host of new markets for my work. The “international writer” tag helps too.

Or take the case of US-based writer Michael Sedge, who’s had over 4,000 published articles and 21 books in print. The king of reprints, Sedge is known for selling his articles across the globe. “If a writer knows how to manage his rights, it’s a great way to expand potential markets,” he says. His advice is to make your international sales a marketing, and not a writing effort. He constantly “makes up” rights, such as First English Language Rights in Japan.

Interested in this piece for your “Breaking In” department? I’ll include advice from respected freelancers such as Sedge, and editors from countries outside the United States. I’ll outline ideas and advice on maintaining a solid income from your international freelance efforts, such as:

· Consider the time factor: If two years ago, you made 500 Euro for an article, it would come to be around $420. Today, that same amount is worth $625. So, it’s wise to focus a great deal of effort on European markets, which will pay more for your dollar.

· Make it a marketing effort: Sell what you’ve already written. Tune up your queries to meet the needs of markets, and send out three or four international queries per week.

· Keep track of your rights: Never sell “all rights”. Instead, make up some of your own. You’ll probably need to fine-tune the pieces to suit the particular country’s audience, but it’s still worth the effort.

I’d love to write this article for you. As you may remember, I’m a full-time writer with a range of international writing experience. Some of my recent credits include <details of my published work>.

I look forward to working with you and providing quality content for Writer’s Digest.

Have a great day!
Mridu

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The resultant article:
http://www.mridukhullar.com/portfolio/international-writing.html