Tools That Should Be in Your Marketing Toolbox

If you’re getting started as a freelancer, these are the tools you’ll need to develop to get magazine work.

The Query Letter

If you’re a magazine writer, the query is your most basic and indispensable tool for getting new work. While there’s no one right way to write a query letter, the basic components are:

• A lede that grabs the editor and makes her want to read on. You can start with a personal anecdote or an anecdote from someone else, a quote, results from a study, a counterintuitive statement…the list goes on.

• A body that describes your article and tells the editor why it’s important and why his readers would be interested in it. The body can include bullet points, quotes from experts or people on the street — anything that bolsters your idea.

• A closing that tells the editor why you’re the right person to write the article. This may be a list of published credits, access to a difficult-to-get source, personal or professional experience in the topic, and more.

To read queries that worked for other writers, pick up a copy of The Renegade Writer’s Query Letters That Rock!, request a free packet of queries that worked by sending a blank e-mail to queries@renegadewriter.com, and check out more queries that rocked on this blog.

Need more? I offer an 8-week e-course on how to write a query letter. The next one will start in January 2009.

The Letter of Introduction (LOI)

Sometimes you can break into a magazine by sending an LOI. I’ve had the best luck with this approach with trade magazines. And even with newsstand magazines, an LOI can help warm the editor up for your future pitches. My LOI goes something like this:

Hello! Do you assign articles to freelance writers? I’m a freelancer based in Concord, NH, who has written for such trades and newsstand magazines as Woman’s Day, Health, Target Marketing, Writer’s Digest, Redbook, and Pizza Today. I’m easy to work with (no diva here!), professional, and fast (I’ve written articles for Target Marketing and Health with a one-week turnaround).

May I send you some clips?

To me, that final question is important…it’s an easy question that isn’t asking the editor to promise anything but that she’ll take a look at your clips. It also opens the door for further communication.

The Phone

There are times when it’s just easier to call. For example, if you’re trying to figure out who edits section X at magazine Y, it’s way easier to call the editorial department and ask than it is to dig up the info online. And if you’re afraid your e-mails are not getting through to an editor — call and ask. You can also use the phone to follow up on queries and even to pitch very time-sensitive ideas.

If you have trouble finding a magazine’s number, use Information or an online directory to get the number of the publisher, and then ask the receptionist to connect you with the editorial department at the magazine. For example, if you want to contact Redbook, call the number for Hearst, which is much easier to find.

Afraid to pick up the phone? In her post Are You a Phone-Phobic Freelancer?, Diana gives tips for getting over the fear of the phone.

Business Cards

Not every freelancer has business cards, but I use mine often. I attach them to clips if I’m snail mailing them, stick them in thank-you cards to editors and sources, and even clip them to contracts that I return via mail. I got my super-cool business cards from the UK company StreetCards.com. They were pretty pricey, but you can get perfectly serviceable cards from your local printer or office supply store or from iPrint.

Under my contact info, it says, “My editors think I’m swell.” Why not show a little personality on your business card? Editors seem to get a chuckle out of my card (in a good way!).

Clips

Your clips, or writing samples, show the editor not only that you can write, but also that you’ve been through and understand the writing and editing process. That’s why it’s better to send clips of published articles than of articles you wrote that haven’t been published. If you have no published clips and an editor asks to see your clips, then fine — send something that hasn’t been published. But if you have published clips, use them.

It’s typically not a good idea to send in the text of articles that are to be published in an upcoming issue of a magazine, especially to a competing magazine. You don’t want to give away the content of a magazine that has yet to hit the stands, and the editor you send the article to may wonder if you’ll be just as loose with her articles.

I send my clips in various forms. I have PDF files of many of my clips so I can send them as an attachment to an e-mail. If I don’t have a clip in PDF format and the editor has asked me to e-mail clips, I paste the text of published articles into the body of the e-mail. When I do this, I send the pre-published article (in other words, I send the article as it appeared when I turned it in to the editor) because I’m too lazy to retype the edited version. I just tell the editor, “I’ve pasted below articles X and Y. I don’t have these available in PDF format yet, but the benefit of these text-only clips is that you can see what my writing looks like before it’s edited!” Editors have actually complimented me on how clean my pre-editing articles are, and I think it reassures them that my great clips aren’t merely the work of talented editors.

Then there are the hard-copy clips. When I get a magazine with an article of mine in it, I toss it into a pretty box in my office. When the box is full, I go through the magazines and clip out my articles and the magazine covers, and file them in alphabetical hanging folders in my filing cabinet. If an editor asks for snail mailed clips, I copy the appropriate magazine covers in color, copy the articles in black and white, and staple them together. I think seeing the covers of respected magazines in full color — sometimes with my articles blurbed on them — creates a nice visual impact.

If you copy enough clips, it may be worthwhile to buy your own color copier. I got mine for under $100 at Staples and I love how convenient it is. No more driving to the print shop to make copies!

Is there anything I haven’t mentioned that’s an indispensable part of your marketing arsenal? Please post it in the Comments below! [lf]