It's simple. You want the editor to read the letter and often they skim their mail for a first impression and then go first to the ones that look most likely. This means that letters in note size envelopes, letters with graphics on them, and long letters can find their way to the bottom of the pile.
My analogy is this: On your way home from work, you stop at the grocery store. You need a liter of milk and you have company coming. The store is busy. The dairy department is at the back of the store. The usual milk section has been split in two. On one side is a standard shelf with cartons of milk. On the other side is the same milk, but you have to pass a person doing a questionnaire about milk use, a creative display on the uses of milk and you have to get a box to stand on to reach the milk because it's on the top shelf.
You're in a hurry. Which shelf of milk will attract you?
This is the dilemma that faces a busy editor with a stack of mail before him or her. The choice is obvious. The editor will go for the one that looks like the most accessible. As one editor I know has said, "I like to see that they put their effort into the article idea, not designing a letterhead."
ASSIGNMENT
Non-Fiction:
In lesson three, you came up with three ideas for articles. Using one of them or a new idea since then, write a query letter, paying particular attention to your paragraph on your own qualifications.
Fiction:
Write the high concept of your novel or short story. That's the one-line description of your story that describes in a nutshell what it's all about. It has many uses. For one thing, you can tape it up beside your computer to keep you on track in writing the story. Every scene, ask yourself "Does this relate to the high concept?" If not, then it likely doesn't belong there. For details on high concept, check out http://www.teleport.com/~cdeemer/high-concept.html.
