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Writing an Email Query

© Sue Reichard

The Internet makes the submission process much faster for those editors and publishers who accept e-mail queries. Before you send any e-mail query, you must first get an OK from the editor or publisher. This, of course, is only good manners.

It is very important in an e-mail query to keep it short, simple and concise. It is important to catch the editors' interest quickly and to keep their interest. Do not waste their time. As with any well-written query, make it worthwhile to read.

Your e-mail query needs to be no more than one page. The standard rules for writing a query still apply for an e-mail query. Your query should consist of three parts. You should always open with your idea and a brief description of your project. The second paragraph should explain why you wrote the article and why you should be the one to write it. In the third paragraph give a short bio of yourself.

It is becoming more common for electronic issues to be addressed in market listings in the many books available to writers, children's writers, magazine writers and freelance writers. Many editors are so busy and are still behind the technology revolution. More and more publications are putting up their own web sites.

Remember an e-mail query, like any query, is the first sample of your work that an editor sees. Write the query in your word processing program first, and run spell check and grammar check on your query. After the check, you can copy it into your e-mail without any mistakes. Never send attachments without first getting permission. If you want to also send your resume, send it separately from the query in a text-only version.

Sending clips can be a problem for an e-mail query. If you have your clips online at your own web-site you can direct the editor there by including your URL. Another method is the tried and true U.S. Mail service. Make up a package of appropriate clips which the editor will receive in just a few days.

Remember, never send an unsolicited e-mail query. Be brief and to the point. Keep your e-mail query to one page. Be sure to mention that you will be happy to send the same query through regular mail if preferred.

Happy Writing!!

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