Customer Reviews

QUERY LETTERS THAT WORKED! Real queries that landed $2K+ writing assignments

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Query Letters That Worked! lets you peek into the files of some of the best freelancers on the planet. You get 25 queries and proposals and six general pitch letters plus tons of good advice.

Each letter is carefully analyzed for what makes it work. You learn how the idea progressed from query to published article... what the writer did and what the editor said. You also get to peek into the writer's background to see how their credentials influenced the query.

Angela also provides her secret to finding steady freelance work, tips for phone queries, and the six golden rules of queries and submissions (and how to break them).

This book is chock full of advice on how to improve your queries -- it's a definite must-have for freelancers.

This is a book of actual query letters that real, live writers have used to jag themselves good paying writing assignments - in fact, every letter has resulted in a job that earned $2,000 or more. It's called, funnily enough, Query Letters That Worked and it's by Angela Hoy, publisher of WritersWeekly.com.

Each of the letters includes a short bio of the writer and an analysis of the query - so you can see for yourself why each one worked. Once you know how it's done, it's a straightforward matter to write a query that indicates to busy editors that you are one of those most desirable of creatures - a writer who can make their lives easier. You'll see how to write the all-important hook that ensures your query is at least read; you'll discover how to link your article to timely topics and how to show that you are the perfect person to write this article.

The best way to learn is to learn from successful people - whatever the field, and it's interesting to note the common elements in these queries. All advise (strongly) that you study the particular magazine or paper carefully before sending anything. Nothing screams "amateur" as much as a writer who zips off a query for a 2,000 word feature on Extreme Aerobics to a magazine that targets the over-65s. (Now don't yell at me because you're over 65 and regularly engage in extreme aerobics ... you get the point I'm trying to make.)

You don't have to spend a fortune on magazines either; a few hours spent in your local library perusing a couple of issues of your target publication will give you the information you need. One useful tip is to study the ads as well as the articles, since this indicates the market of that particular publication. Why not take advantage of the squillions of research dollars the ad-men have spent?

As well as the query letters, the book also includes some general pitch letters that brought in big bikkies (up to $30,000). Then there are chapters on how to query by phone, your rights as a freelancer and Angela's secret tips for finding steady freelance work (and no, I can't tell you ... it's a secret!)

I find it helpful to see specifically what has succeeded for others, and then use that as a model for my own endeavors. This book provides exactly that: not only successful large dollar queries, but comments pointing out the elements that helped them succeed.

This book by itself won't write your queries for you - that is still a generally thinkish process that is unique to the topic and the market you're addressing - but it is full of useful examples from how to frame a hook to how to gently nudge an editor for a timely response. Good stuff to know and use.

The book is excellent for those who want to send query letters about ARTICLES to be published in magazines, but is lacking with respect to authors of BOOKS.

I suggest that a more restrictive title, such as "Query letters that worked for articles publishing" would prevent buyers who want to focus on publishing books from buying the subject title.