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This Week's Query Letter

Sunday July 20, 2008

Here is this week's query letter. Let's help each other hone our query skills by leaving your thoughts and suggestions in the comments. (I've already got the discussion started, don't leave me hangin'!)

Dear Editor X,

As a writer and a mother, intellectual freedom, especially in print, is very important to me. This year I will be actively teaching my eldest child, a nine year old, about banned books. There is a great amount of educational information available, even at this age range.

I'm writing to propose to you a 3,500 feature piece: "Banned Books and Your Child, Start Intellectual Freedom Now." This piece is aimed at a young, progressive mother to children age 8-15, and should dovetail nicely with Banned Books Week (beginning September 27 and lasting through October).

This piece would cover the following, with call outs and quotes noted:

(Article outline/bullets here. Removed by writer's request.)

Editors, I am a professional freelancer with over 12 years of writing experience. My current clients include X, X, and Y. I have also written for Z, from which I am sending two clips (attached).

I offer only professional work, tight deadlines and open communication. Let's get to work!

Signed, Ms. B.

Simple Idea....$3,000 Payout

Tuesday July 15, 2008

I read somewhere that the Atlantic Monthly (also known as the freelance writer's Holy Grail) pays $3,000 per article. I was recently browsing and came upon an article in their July/August issue called Inconspicuous Consumption. It occurred to me that this article was simply an interesting, newsy spin on the results of some recent university research.

I then picked up another of my favorites, Psychology Today, and realized that about 50% of the articles in it were the same thing: take a new finding, add anecdotes and quotes, make the research readable to the layperson, and you've got a story!

Don't mistake this to mean that this is the way to get into these markets, however, it shows that it's really a simple idea that some of the big markets are paying for. Read a year of Cosmopolitan and see what I mean!

Need some more places to find those pitch letter ideas? Check out these ways to capture and generate magazine article ideas.

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