Magazine Editors Talk to Writers (Wiley books for writers) Book

Forty magazine editors tell all: what they look for in a story, how to approach an editor, and how best to break in to the market. The most important element, it seems, is the query letter. "The writer must put almost as much work into the query," says Fran Carpenter, a senior editor at Parade, "as he or she would put into the article." The query must be long enough to convey the gist of the story, but not so long as to reveal your writing faults. It should be addressed to a specific editor, and it should spell her name (and everything else) right. It should be infused with personality and passion, and it should convey to the editor that you have already done an extensive amount of reporting or research on the subject. Finally, "don't forget that your query is also a clip," advises Claudia Valentino, who has edited at Penthouse, American Health, and Popular Science. "The query is the first unedited writing sample a writer sends to an editor." --Jane Steinberg Read More