Are Queries Dead?
Last week I posted on Facebook that an editor at Women’s Health was interested in my query. Another writer posted a comment saying something like, “A query to the glossies, how quaint!” I laughed, but then I started thinking…are queries passé?
I don’t query nearly as much as I used to. Since I’ve been writing full-time for 13 years, I’m in many editors’ stables, so they come to me with work. For example, most of the articles I’ve written for Health were the result of the editor contacting me. The benefit of this is, well, I don’t have to write a query letter. The drawback is that the idea I’m assigned is something the editors came up with in-house, so it’s often not as interesting to me as an idea I generated and pitched myself.
Also, I write for a lot of custom publications — that is, publications that are produced for businesses and organizations like Cleveland Clinic, Sons of Norway, The Vitamin Shoppe, Stop & Shop, and so on — and I broke into all of those through letters of introduction. (And LOTS of follow up — these custom pubs are not fast responders!) Trade magazines have been the same for me…while I do pitch a few of my favorites, I broke into most of the two dozen I’ve written for through letters of introduction.
But I still do query, especially when I come up with an idea I really want to write. For example, the feature I wrote for Fortune Small Business, which later turned into a photo spread and short for Inc., was the result of a researched query. The essay I’m working on for Parenting, about adopting our son, also came from a brief query. (True, you don’t normally query essays, but the one I was proposing was different from the typical essay model so I wanted to pitch it before writing.) And now Women’s Health is interested in an idea I pitched them about a week ago, which stemmed from an issue I was grappling with at the time. These topics were all near and dear to me, and I really wanted to write them — so I queried them.
When I’m writing for a national newsstand magazine, the relationship almost always started out with a query letter. Sure, Health came to me with most of the assignments, but my first assignment came from a pitch. Then, after I proved myself to the editor, he started assigning me stories. I developed a relationship with my Family Circle editor (way back when; I haven’t written for them in years!) through multiple queries, and eventually the editor started assigning me ideas that were developed in-house.
I think that query letters are still very important for aspiring and new writers who haven’t yet had a chance to prove themselves to editors. Queries show not only that you have a great idea, but also that you know how to organize an article, find good sources, and do interviews. They take the danger out of saying “yes”; because the editor can see how well you write through your query, she doesn’t risk as much as if she assigned an article to a new writer sans query.
True, you’d think that your clips (if you have any) would suffice to show an editor how well you can write. But how does an editor know how much of the clip is your brilliance, and how much is the result of a good editor? My editors have told me that some of the worst writers have some of the best clips.
Also, queries are key when you want to write about a certain topic, since of course an editor — even if she wants to assign you stories that were developed in-house — has no idea what you’re passionate about. Nor does she necessarily care; she has a magazine to put out. But often you’ll find, through a query, that your interests and the interests of the magazine coincide, and you’ll land a nice assignment on a topic you love. That’s what queries are for.
What do you think: Are queries dead? If you’re an old pro, do you still query? If you’re new, what have you heard — that queries are useless, or that they’re de rigueur? [lf]
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Jun 11, 2010 Editors, Observations, Query letters, Writing
Great post, Linda. I’m an old-timer, too, and I get a lot of assignments simply by being on an editor’s speed-dial, but the stories I like writing the best come from my own pitches. To tell you the truth, I think I’d grow bored with writing if I could only do the stories my editors asked me to do. The good news is, most editors today still love getting a great story idea from a writer — it seems to be a rare thing.
I don’t know the full context or the background of the person who made that content, but it doesn’t sound very supportive or positive. Most writers break into new-to-them publications with a strong query, even if they end up covering ideas generated in-house. The format of a query may be changing (no more snail mail queries for most people and some writers are finding success with video queries or Twitter queries), but I think the idea of pitching a story in some form will remain.
Perhaps this person has grown disillusioned with consumer magazines and prefers to focus on custom pubs or trade magazines that don’t as often use queries. The publishing landscape is definitely shifting and “breaking into the glossies” is a lot more complicated than it once was due to shrinking budgets and the repurposing of old content.
Thanks for the comment, Susan! I think the writer was just being funny.
Funny you should mention writers covering in-house ideas once they break in with a query…as I was writing this very post, I got a reply from an editor: “We can’t use your idea X, but can you do a 2,000-word feature on Y?” Who knows if I would have gotten that assignment if I weren’t on the editor’s radar thanks to my query!
Video queries? Do tell! Could be interesting for a blog post.
Linda, the video panel at ASJA mentioned how some writers are using videos to literally show (rather than tell) their editors about the interesting characters involved in their proposed story. Most people in the audience were dubious (“we’re writers, not videographers” and “isn’t that a lot of work for something an editor might not even watch”), but I suspect we’ll be seeing more of this in the future. Still, the idea is still in its infancy, so I wouldn’t try it unless I knew the editor would appreciate a less orthodox approach.
Hi Linda:
Definitely NOT dead. Unless you’re referred, it’s your way in the door.
Another good thing about queries is that, even if your idea is not accepted, some editors (provided it appears you know their publication and your subject) will suggest another idea for you in their response.
Steve
Great post and great comments so far – thanks! The concept of video queries is new to me as well (as is the concept of twitter queries) and I would love to read a blog post about both in the future
!
Hmm. Strange comment for them to make – Linda, like you, I have plenty of work I don’t need to go looking for lots of new work. But I do get bored, like Susan, or have an article idea that isn’t a great fit for any of the pubs I have relationships with.
I struggle to think of how a new writer could build a strong portfolio without doing some querying first. Sure, you can Twitter and Facebook all you like, but I can’t help but think you’d be better off going right to the source of the work.
Thanks, guys! I’m glad to hear I’m not an old fuddy-duddy (or as the book How Not to Look Old puts it, “OL”).
Susan, thanks for the info on video reviews! They sound interesting, but I’m not sure how videotaping something shows how well it translates to print.
Steve, yes…that happened to me yesterday as I was writing this post!
Andy, I’m with you. Network all you want, but a written pitch is the most direct way to get into a magazine.
Diana, thank you for your comment! I’m glad it’s rare for an editor to get a great pitch…less competition for me!
Nicole, this blog is full of posts about query letters! Go to Archives and select the category Query Letters.
Love this post! Your blog will be on my “must read” radar from now on – it’s the second time in a month that I’ve been thinking about an writing-related issue and your post referred to the same idea.
Anyway, I have to agree with the person who originally commented to you about pitches/queries. While I don’t think queries are officially dead, I do think the tide is turning. I’ve gotten some work through blind queries to editors but the back and forth can be tiresome (especially if it doesn’t pan out!). I think I’ve gotten more work from LOIs, long-term gigs, and building relationships with editors. That said, I plan to go on a query-writing rampage later this summer and branch out to new pubs. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Thanks for your comment, Lisa! To me, the query is the beginning of the relationship-building with an editor. For national magazines, LOIs don’t seem to have the same impact for me.
Queries are certainly not dead. I wonder what that writer meant, maybe he or she writes for content mills and just churns things out without needing to query.
My work comes from a mix of assignments from known editors and responses to my own queries. I wouldn’t want it any other way! Any decent writer needs to query to keep an editor interested and to establish some new connections.
Thanks, Debbie! The writer was just making a funny I think because the newsstand mags (especially the women’s mags) can be such a PITA that many writers avoid them these days. But I like to keep my hand in it because many of my students want to break into these very mags. Also, they’re nice clips!
Oh, and…I agree with you! Queries are not dead.
I still query. I like exercising my news judgment–at least, what I think my news judgment is. I do find more of the “no answer” answer these days, which is frustrating. Or the partial reply–”This same thing happened to my aunt.” Uh…are you assigning this? I had three good stories from a national mag and when I sent more queries, no answer…I said did I get spammed?…She said no, she regarded queries as a compost heap…sometimes she would go to her pile. I try not think of myself as a orange peel now… I do think the mag biz is changing. My assigner mags all went pfft.
Compost heap, eh? I’m not sure that’s all that different than it used to be, though…in the days of snail mailed queries, I heard that editors kept all the queries in a giant slush pile and would have an intern or editorial assistant go through the pile every once in awhile and pass along queries that looked good.
I haven’t done snails in several years, although I have cool stationery. I think. Someplace. Anyway–I got the no ans ans from those, too, and they were much more trouble. At WebMD, CBS HealthWatch, ME Magazine and other places, my queries would be up or down return email..same day. Now..it’s a slog. Some editors even act as if you are bothering them with your tiresome good ideas and availability–don’t call us, we’ll call you… I persist anyway–I am stubborn that way. And I write in a week–did you get it, am I in the spam tank, etc.
Although I’m at a point right now where I have enough work coming my way sans queries (which I consider to be a *lovely* turn of events, let me tell you), I still think that querying is necessary in order to avoid stagnancy and branch out into new markets. I mean, LOIs can work, too, but in many cases, editors love to see writers take the initiative and present them with timely, well-laid-out story ideas. Less work for them!
Thanks, Star and Steph! Steph, I agree…it’s a rare freelancer who tells the editor what she can do for the editor (in the form of a well-researched query), rather than asking what the editor can do for her. (Gimme work! Huh, huh, huh? Please?)
“True, you’d think that your clips (if you have any) would suffice to show an editor how well you can write. But how does an editor know how much of the clip is your brilliance, and how much is the result of a good editor? My editors have told me that some of the worst writers have some of the best clips.”
I never thought about this until I started editing, and then after about a week being on the “other side” I started to wonder how much I should really trust clips. I definitely think there is still a place for pitch and query letters. It shows writer initiative, and as Steph says helps writers break into new markets.
As someone who has recently gone fulltime freelance and with but a handful of paid for and published clips I can’t imagine how anyone would know about me if I didn’t pitch (and follow up…and follow up…and, you get the point)!
A question for those that have broken in to custom and trade pubs with a LOI: do you think your success in this area is because you have a decent resume, strong writing history and/or specific experience in the area of the trade/custom pub? Or is it simply because your LOI shows you to have a decent grasp of English, a dose of commonsense and because editors of trade/customs are perhaps more receptive to new writers than the commercials might be?
Heather, have you experienced bad writer/good clips yet?
Stace, there’s usually more to a successful LOI than “I’m a good writer, I promise. Here I am!” When I broke into trades with LOIs, I already had a good history of publication. Even when I sent my very first LOI to Sign Builders Illustrated in 1997, I had a clip. And when a student of mine breaks into a trade with no/few clips, she usually has some sort of relevant experience in the topic.
On the other hand, trades ARE more receptive to new writers in my experience. I think they don’t get the deluge of queries that national magazines get, and they’re more in need of good writers.
When I read the comment, I wasn’t sure if the writer was referring to the queries as being passe…or the glossies.
I think it’s pretty much definitive here: queries (and LOIs for that matter) are NOT dead.
Nor do I think they ever will be.
Steve