How to Write a Query Letter: Everything You Need to Know Explained Simply by Donna Murphy

Author:Donna Murphy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: query letter, writer, editor, manuscripts, article ideas, literary agent, book, magazine
Publisher: Atlantic Publishing Group
Published: 2013-01-02T00:00:00+00:00

Things That Infuriate the Editor

You might be getting afraid of editors at this point, but try not to be too nervous. They are people too, but they are often busy, overworked, under tight deadlines, and regularly in a position to produce high-quality content. As you read the following scenarios, you will see that dealing with editors is just common sense. Some of these things you might have to practice getting out of the habit of doing. Others will be so blatantly obvious that you would be embarrassed at the thought of doing them yourself. Learn from others’ mistakes, and try not to infuriate the editor with these things:

Slush-pile worthy mistakes

Clichés – It is difficult for editors to get the whole sense of where you might be going with the cliché in a one-page pitch. Cutesy, corny, and cheesy rarely impress an editor.

No end in sight – Editors, agents, and publishers want quick and to-the-point queries. Avoid boring the reader with extensive or irrelevant details. Provide just enough information to spark interest and not a word more. A query letter longer than a page is not recommended. Condense paragraphs, cut excessive adjectives and adverbs, eliminate wordy phrases, and get rid of anything else that makes your query sound like a run-on sentence.

Too many topics – You may think that presenting several topics at once will be helpful. Unfortunately, the opposite is true. When you present too many topics in one query letter, there are a few things that come to an editor’s mind: 1) lack of confidence in your idea, 2) too lazy to separate out your ideas, or 3) lack of focus. All these scenarios can be confusing to the editor, and if it is confusing to the editor, you can bet that it will be confusing to the target audience. The result can be negative feedback from the publication’s readers or loss of reputation for the overall publication.

Just plain unprofessional

Threatening an editor – Trying to force an editor to do something outside the industry guidelines is a big mistake. Editors run the show, and you have to play by their rules.

Phone calls and drop-ins – Both of these send the message that you do not understand editors or their rules. Editors are busy people, and calling or dropping by tells them you do not respect their time or space. If you need to contact an editor, regular mail or e-mail is the best method. Call only as a last resort, and forget the drop-ins altogether.

Unsubstantiated facts – A quick way to infuriate the editor is to present unsubstantiated or faulty facts. With all the available resources today, it is essential for a writer to research and validate the facts they present. Not all resources are reliable, so be sure to recheck all your facts. Do not rely on hearsay or second-hand resources; stay away from unreliable sources such as Wikipedia, advertorial sites, personal blogs, websites that have shady content, and sites that do not have a clear point of contact.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.