Sometimes–and this is usually after you’ve sent out the first dozen or so pitches and received a couple of acceptances–you won’t need to send out query after query to solicit assignments. You’ll still be proposing ideas and asking for work, of course, but the query letter itself changes with time. It graduates from being a formal well thought out proposal to an informal what-do-you-think question. These are the types of queries we’ll discuss now.

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The One-Sentence Pitch

The one-sentence pitch or the quick query is usually just a sentence or two at best and should be used only when the editor is already familiar with your work. If you’ve never written for Parade before, and you send the editor an e-mail saying, “Hiya Bill, want to see an idea on new tax laws?” you can say hello to the virtual trash can. But if you send the same e-mail to your editor at the city newspaper for which you write regularly, you’ll be better received.

I typically use this kind of pitch right after I’ve submitted a piece or received copies or a check for a previous assignment. When I’m thanking the editor, I might add a line such as, “Oh, and I have an idea that would fit perfectly into the fitness department—working out techniques for couples. Would you like to see a full proposal?”

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Multiple Pitches

Ever had an editor ask you to send across your ideas? I did, and I freaked out. How many did she want to see? Was she going to buy all of them? Did I have to work up full queries for each idea or did I just have to give a few brief ideas and leave it at that? With experience, I’ve found that I can safely send 3-5 two-line ideas to an editor I’ve worked with, but a new-to-me editor would need more detail.

The advantage of this kind of pitch is that it saves you a while lot of work. You get to know immediately which ideas the editor is interested in, and you could also end up getting many assignments in one go. However, if you’ve proposed an idea once, you can’t use it again with the same editor, so if she has the space or the budget for only one, the others will have lost the battle even before they’ve had the chance to prove themselves.

The method for submitting e-mail and postal queries varies a bit. If you’re sending multiple pitches by post, make sure to include each pitch on a different page, and flesh it out like a proper query letter. The editor could then keep these pages in file for later use. Don’t squish all the ideas on to a single page.

E-mail works a bit differently. Your editor’s hardly going to have the time to scroll through ten pages of idea after idea. Just send a brief paragraph about each idea, and offer to send detailed proposals for whichever ones she finds interesting.

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Complete Submissions

Before we begin, let’s get a few things straight. Firstly, if your aim is to write for national magazines, quit sending them full submissions and concentrate on getting your query letter right. You’re not going to go far with full feature submissions. Sure, you may land a byline or two in a regional magazine, but unless that’s where you want to be stranded for the rest of your career, think queries.

Secondly, just because you’re sending a full submission does not mean that you can get away with not writing a cover letter. Even if it’s just two or three lines, the cover letter needs to exist. Instead of looking at it as a necessity, think of it as an opportunity. An opportunity to tout your credentials, ask for more work if this idea doesn’t fit, mention the rights offered, and anything else that you might want the editor to know.

So when can you send a full submission? If the article is a reprint or a personal essay. In both these cases, you need to submit the complete manuscript. This is what your submission should look like:

Dear [Name of Editor]:

I’d like to offer my essay “Broken” for your consideration for publication in the [Name of Department] section of [Name of Publication].

A bit about me: I’m a freelance journalist currently based in New Delhi, India, and my essays have been published in ELLE, Parade.com, and Chicken Soup for the Soul, among others. I have also written for Marie Claire, Ms., US Airways, and The Christian Science Monitor.

Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to hearing from you.

Warm Regards,
Mridu Khullar