The Renegade Writer's Query Letters That Rock: The Freelance Writer's Guide to Selling More Work Faster (The Renegade Writer's Freelance Writing series) [Paperback]

Diana Burrell (Author), Linda Formichelli (Author)

Book Description

Series: The Renegade Writer's Freelance Writing series | Publication Date: November 1, 2006

This convention-defying follow-up to The Renegade Writer ensures that freelance journalists get the assignments they want more quickly and for better pay with the right query letter. Successful freelancers and the editors that buy their work share their advice on pitching the perfect story with real examples that earned great assignments from major magazines. Fresh, spunky, and fun to read, this handbook favors a proven renegade approach that gets freelancers more work for more money in less time and with less stress.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"New and experienced freelancers will benefit both from reading the queries themselves and the feedback from the editors who bought them."  —Kelly James-Enger, author, Six-Figure Freelancing

"Using the advice Linda and Diana share in their book, I've broken into markets such as Family Circle, Oxygen, SELF, and others."  —Jennifer Lawler, magazine writer and author, Dojo Wisdom series

"This book is a must for anyone who struggles with the frustrations of pitching. Not only will you see a wide range of successful approaches, all your burning query-letter questions will get answered in just under 200 lively pages."  —Charmian Christie, Professional Writers Association of Canada (PWAC) Guelph

About the Author

Diana Burrell is the coauthor of The Renegade Writer and the author of The Secrets of Successful Weight Loss. She regularly writes for Family Circle, Parenting, and The Writer. She lives in Chelmsford, Massachusetts. Linda Formichelli is the coauthor of The Renegade Writer and the author of Becoming a Personal Trainer for Dummies, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Starting and Running a Coffee Bar, and Tools of Timekeeping. She regularly writes for Family Circle, Fitness, USA Weekend, and Writer's Digest. She lives in Concord, New Hampshire.

Product Details

• Paperback: 202 pages
• Publisher: Marion Street Press, LLC (November 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1933338091
• ISBN-13: 978-1933338095
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #148,679 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It Rocks!, December 15, 2006

By 

Kris Bordessa - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Renegade Writer's Query Letters That Rock: The Freelance Writer's Guide to Selling More Work Faster (The Renegade Writer's Freelance Writing series) (Paperback)

I would very much like to have tea with the authors; unfortunately I'll have to settle for reading their book. Friendly and experienced, Diana and Linda offer excellent advice for breaking into magazines and address many writerly concerns, such as how to deal with follow ups, a lack of clips, and editors who ignore you. The second part of the book is even more enlightening - real query letters complete with comments from the editors who received them. It's like having an editorial super-decoder ring at your service.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book rocks!, December 7, 2006

By 

Sharon A. Waldrop "Sharon Anne Waldrop" (Crawford, GA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Renegade Writer's Query Letters That Rock: The Freelance Writer's Guide to Selling More Work Faster (The Renegade Writer's Freelance Writing series) (Paperback)

The first half of this book provides valuable information about breaking into magazine markets. Although the tips are professional and ethical, Diana and Linda are quite funny while talking to us -- and that's the tone of this book. The authors are talking to their readers, not at their readers. I literally laughed out loud several times while reading. The second half of the book consists of samples of successful query letters and comments from the editors who gave the assignments to the writers. This information alone is worth the cost of the book a hundred times over.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good reference, but not a bible., July 2, 2008

By 

SJS (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Renegade Writer's Query Letters That Rock: The Freelance Writer's Guide to Selling More Work Faster (The Renegade Writer's Freelance Writing series) (Paperback)

I have these two ladies' first book and I really enjoyed it, so I snapped this one up quickly. I wasn't an enthused about this book though. The sample letters are great, as are the comments from editors and writers alike. The problem is that it's all over the map. Granted, they want to appeal to everyone across the board, but the result here is that it just skims along the surface and doesn't really make itself invaluable.

Personally, I was hoping to help on writing queries. It gives us that in the form of an FAQ, but they're very basic questions. Helpful, but simple. As for the letters, there is only one that really applies to beginners, and the rest are by writers who have clips and other writing experience. For a beginner starting out, this creates a feeling of "how am I supposed to get published with no clips?" It would have been much more useful to multiple letters that appeal to each level of freelancer who would be reading this book, and it would have been nice to have a handful of queries written by writers just starting out.

Overall it's a cool reference, but it's not something I'd say you need on your shelf... especially if you're already comfortable writing your queries.

I highly recommend the authors' other book though: [ASIN:1933338008 The Renegade Writer: A Totally Unconventional Guide to Freelance Writing Success (The Renegade Writer's Freelance Writing series)]]