Carol asks, “Over the years, much of my freelance work has come from a non-profit organization that is somewhat controversial due to its conservative views and religious affiliation. As a result, I’m hesitant to include this organization in my queries. My question: Is this fear warranted? I wonder if I’m doing myself in by […]
Archive for the 'Query letters' Category
You ask, we answer: Publicizing a controversial client?
Filed in: Advice Editors Ethics Query letters You Ask, We Answer
Do you Ning? A great discovery for writing students, others
I just started teaching the spring session of my class yesterday, and I decided I wanted students to be able to communicate with each other and also to share their work, if they choose to. I thought I’d try out Ning, a service that I’d been hearing about. It lets you create social networks (sort […]
Filed in: Query letters Writing
The Great New Yorker Rejection Project
Whenever my husband Eric has to get a shot, he pinches the skin on his hand so hard that the injection feels like nothing in comparison. Sure, the pinch hurts, but it makes Eric feel better that he’s the one controlling the pain.
We can do the same with rejections. If rejections from Family Circle and […]
Filed in: Advice Query letters Self improvement
Crazy Query
I found on my hard drive a folder called “Queries in Progress.” Thinking there might be a few salvageable ideas in there, I read through all the forgotten queries. At the end of one from 2002, lacking a real conclusion, I had written:
I have near-godlike powers, and should be given this assignment without hesitation.
I am […]
Filed in: Query letters
Be a Funny Freelancer
I learned the value of injecting humor into my queries and articles a few years ago when my Family Circle editor called in the middle of editing my diet article to tell me that the article was cracking her up. Her favorite line? “When the fat hits your thighs from a big pizza pie, that’s […]
Filed in: Advice Query letters Writing
You Ask, We Answer: Do I have to expose myself?
Valeria asks: Life’s a funny thing. I’ve spent years thinking I really would rather work from home as a writer than go to my computing job and life has handed me a situation that may well take all my leave time and donated leave time to resolve. In short, I may lose my job! Crisis […]
Filed in: Advice Query letters You Ask, We Answer
You Ask, We Answer: Should I query a short or send in the whole thing?
Rebecca asks: When I pitch a short FOB to a magazine, do I include the entire short in the query? For example, if it’s a one paragraph short, that’s my entire lede and article in one. Instead of including a lede, do I just describe what I am planning on doing, or do I […]
Filed in: Advice Query letters You Ask, We Answer
New Query That Rocked & New Wiki Market
Diana and I just posted another query in the Query Letters That Rocked section; it’s a query that landed a juicy assignment at West, the Los Angeles Times magazine.
If you’re an editor or a writer and you have a query that you’d like to nominate for this section, please contact us at questions [at] therenegadewriter […]
Filed in: Magazines Query letters
You Ask, We Answer: How do I take my clips into the Internet age?
Caroline asks: Hello! I am new to this whole freelancing thing-a-ma-jig (yes, that it is a made up word), and I have a question about electronic clips. Now, being the good little renegade writer that I am, I have been working on putting together queries that I would like to email. I have several that […]
Filed in: Advice Book authoring Query letters You Ask, We Answer
More Student Kudos!
A pair of students in my last 8-week e-course on breaking into magazines, Wayne and Treba Thompson, wrote a killer query that was accepted by Blue Water Sailing magazine! Their query had a lot of style, with clever use of nautical terms, sharp language, and great quotes from impressive experts. Not to mention that their […]
Filed in: Classes Query letters

