part0003

With How to Get Published: 50 Successful Query Letters , you’ll discover that most any reasonably intelligent person with a strong work ethic and a love for reading and writing can get published, at least from time to time and maybe even on a regular basis. There’s no magic involved, but I do offer some tips and tricks you’ll need to know in order to achieve success in the field of writing.

As the title suggests, this book focuses primarily on how to write query letters, but I provide other pointers along the way, along with an assortment of writing-related essays and articles near the back of the book.

Before I continue, let me give you a few of my qualifications so you know you aren’t wasting your time. I’m a former writer and editor for the All Game Guide (allgame.com), and I’m the author of the Classic Home Video Games book series (McFarland Publishers) and of The 100 Greatest Console Video Games: 1977-1987 (Schiffer Publishing).

I write comic book descriptions for mycomicshop.com, I was on the Comics Buyer’s Guide Review Crew for more than a decade, and I’m a frequent contributor to a major metropolitan newspaper, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram , and a national newspaper, AntiqueWeek .

In addition, I’ve had articles published in Alter Ego , The Auction Exchange & Collector’s News , Back Issue , Classic Gamer Magazine , Fangoria , Farm World , Filmfax , Game Informer , Hogan’s Alley , Indulge , Living with Panache , Mystery Scene , Native Peoples , Nevada Magazine , the PinGame Journal , Robot magazine, Scary Monsters , Toy Car & Model , Toy Shop , Treasures , Video Game Collector , Video Game Trader , The West Texan News , The Writer , and You & Me: America’s Medical Magazine .

A major key to my getting published so frequently is my ability to write a strong, concise query letter, which any successful writer must learn how to do, whether you want to pitch articles, stories, or book ideas.

What is a query letter, exactly? It can be a pitch to a literary agent, but for the purposes of this book it’s a letter to a magazine editor or a publishing house, proposing an article or book idea. Of course, editors for newspapers and websites receive query letters as well. A good query letter is direct and to the point, letting the editor know what the article or book idea is about and why you are qualified to write it.

The queries in this book, all of which lead to sales, are real letters I wrote to real editors. Each letter is preceded by commentary in which I explain why it was successful in convincing the editor to accept my article or book idea.

Prior to digging in to the meat of this book—the query letters themselves—check out the following list of 10 tips for writing successful query letters as they will give you a good foundation going in. These tips won’t guarantee that you’ll get published—it’s up to you to do the market research, the writing, and other legwork (fingerwork?)—but they will help give you a fighting chance.

1. Include your name, email address, and phone number at or near the top of the page, preferably on professional looking letterhead.

2. Unless you have worked with the editor many times before or know him or her personally, address him or her as “Mr.” or “Ms.”

3. Never begin an article pitch with your publication credits or other information about yourself. Rather, go directly to your pitch and include your bio and credits near the end of the query.

4. Have another writer—one more established than you—read your query before you send it. If you don’t know any other writers, you need to get busy at once networking through social media and writing workshops.

5. Before pitching an idea to an editor of a magazine or newspaper, read at least two or three issues of the publication in question so you’ll know what type of material they publish, in terms of both style and content. Prior to submitting a book idea, pour over that publisher’s website or catalogue, making sure they publish the type of book you have in mind.

6. Don’t ramble in your query letter—it should fit on a single page. Two to six well-written paragraphs are usually ideal.

7. Prior to writing a query letter, look over the publication’s (or publisher’s) submission guidelines to find out exactly what they are looking for and how they want you to send it. For example, certain markets won’t accept email submissions while others won’t open any email that contains an attachment.

8. Unless the editor requests it, steer clear of asking him or her to click on a link. However, feel free to include the link to your blog or website at the end of the pitch below your name.

9. Sell yourself without coming across as a snooty know-it-all. Near the end of the pitch, with your bio and relevant publishing credits, state in matter-of-fact fashion why you are the right person to write the book or article.

10. Read query letters that led to paying jobs. Fortunately for you, constant reader (and, hopefully, writer), there are 50 such query letters in the palm of your hand.

One note: You’ll notice that a number of the queries in this book don’t include my biographical info or credentials. That is only because when those particular queries were written, I already had a longstanding working relationship with those respective editors, and they were already well aware of my qualifications (despite this, I still had to write compelling queries or I wouldn’t get work). If you are new to a publication or don’t know the editor very well, you will always want to explain your qualifications.

Best of luck in your chosen profession—I sincerely hope that reading How to Get Published: 50 Successful Query Letters will help lead you to a happy and successful writing life.