Ten Steps of a Successful Query Letter

Would you like to cut down on your rejections? Who wouldn't? The query letter is key in a writer's success. Here are ten proven steps of great queries.

1. Make a thirty second phone call to the publishing house. Request the editorial department. Request the name of the editor who covers the topic of your proposed article or book topic. Confirm spelling and address.
2. Write an attention-grabbing story title and use it in the subject line of your letter after "Story Proposal."
3. Hook the editor in the first paragraph with your best creative writing.
4. Introduce something new, maybe provocative, that will make the editor want to read your manuscript.
5. Deliver your manuscript's focus. Tell why the readers will find value in your story.
6. Suggest the area of the publication where your story will fit. If you do this, the editor won't have to figure it out. One less job of him/her to do.
7. Give the approximate word count. The editor wants to know if it will fit in the section you suggested.
8. Tell why you are qualified to write the story. Do you have credentials or have you interviewed and/or performed the required research?
9. Tie up your query letter with a convincing statement that will make your project hard for the editor to reject.
10. Attach samples of your previous work and close with your contact information.

As a Christian writer, I start and end my letter with prayer, asking God to bless my efforts as well as go before and with my correspondence, trusting Him to lead me to the right projects and publishers.

I am offering Queries and Submissions by Tom Clark, and recommended by Terry Whalin, to the first five people to subscribe to this blog and leave a comment. Also, please e-mail me at suetornai@ymail.com with your mailing address.

Creativity vs. Administration

Have you lost the writer's guidelines to the project you are working on? It happens to me all the time. I've printed the guidelines to one of the projects I'm working on three times. I'm sure all three copies are here under one stack or another of magazines or books on my desk or on the table behind me. Please tell me you have a similar problem so I won't feel weird.

Every day when I report to work in here, I say to myself, "First on my "to do" list today is clean up this place. But first I check my e-mail, then downsize it so I can see when the number of unchecked mail goes up. That's a mistake because the number is always going up so I'm always checking to see what the e-mail is. If the number doesn't go up for a while, then I start to sort through the stacks. That's when I see articles and stories I want to read. Reading is where I get creative ideas so that's an important task, right? Minutes turn into hours before I realize that little progress has been made to clean up the place. Please tell me you do this too so I won't feel desperately alone.

When a creative idea comes to mind, I have to write it down--maybe a few words, maybe an outline, maybe a first draft of a story. Then I check my blog traffic. An idea for a new post enters my mind so I feel like I have to go with it. It's easy to get lost in here and forget what's going on around me. The other day my puppy, Maggie, chewed up one of the books I was going to read. That's because there was no more room on my desk or table. The book lay on the floor and Maggie found it quite delicious. Please tell me you have days like this so I won't feel like I'm losing my mind. 

My thoughts always turn to a picture of weight scales, you know, the icon lawyers use. On one side is creativity--measuring the value of my projects, and the reading and research they require. On the other side is administration--measuring cleaning, filing, sorting. The admin side is usually the heaviest but I think to myself, I gotta go with the creativity while it's present and I promise myself after I get the first draft or the next draft done on my project, I'll clean up the place. Today I think I better clean up the place or I'll have to print the guidelines to my project again.

Lord Jesus, I know you never leave me or forsake me, but to tell the truth, I'm embarrassed that You see this place right now. Although I've dedicated this place to You for accomplishing all You have for me to do, I need Your help. Thank  You for not giving up on me and thank You in advance for helping me clean up this place. Amen.

Write on Target

Learn to make the most of your Christian Writer's Market Guide. Develop your market research skills to know the publishers to submit your stories to and receive more acceptances. Come to a workshop led by Sue Tornai:

• Wednesday, May 4, 2011
• 7:00-9:00 PM
• Sacramento Library, 5605 Marconi Avenue, Carmichael, CA 95608
• Bring your Christian Writer's Market Guide. If you don't have one, a limited supply will be at the workshop.

See you there.

Avoid Purple Prose

My Dear Writers, I was appalled when I read this week that we should not use Purple Prose in our writing. Purple happens to be my favorite color. Whoever named this form of writing should have named it Orange Prose, or Black Prose. Anything but Purple Prose! If you don’t know what Purple Prose is, I am glad I can enlighten you.

 In her book Crafting Stories for Children, Nancy Lamb refers to using adjectives and adverbs as Purple Prose. You know the LY and ING words? She says adjectives interfere with prose more often than they improve it and adverbs kill a sentence more often than they enliven it. But I thought our writing should be wonderfully descriptive so we could put our readers in captivating settings. Nancy gives these examples:

Don’t write this way: Tiffany smiled prettily, her beautiful, enticing, cat-green eyes dancing seductively with alluring and predatory fires.

Write this way: When Tiffany smiled, her eyes danced with predatory fires.

So my friends, bury those weak words and craft strong descriptive sentences without them. Okay, okay, you don’t have to bury all of them. You can use your favorites, but sparingly. Happy writing.

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