"Tight lines" is a good luck wish among fishermen. When you've
hooked a fish, your line tightens up.
I was musing on this expression as my husband critiqued my
lousy casting skills on our latest fishing expedition.
Anthony's as accurate a caster as they come. He can pinpoint a
particular far-away reed and cast an inch in front of it.
We were going for bass, and he explained that bass like to hide
out on the perimeters of a lake, under rocks and in between
plants. Problem is, I can't pinpoint anything. I aim my pole
right and the line somehow flies left. I aim fifty feet away
and it somehow shoots straight up in the air and plunks down
five feet in front of the boat.
Fishing is part plain luck, but there's a lot of strategizing
to it, too. You have to pick the right spot, the right time of
day, the right bait, the right rig, the right technique. You
could just toss a worm out and hope something hits, but your
odds are a lot better if you make the effort to put a
tasty-looking treat right in front of the fish's mouth.
Kind of like querying.
Oh, you knew there was a writing reference in here somewhere!
As I aimlessly hurled my plastic worm into the middle of the
lake, I got more and more frustrated watching Anthony pull in
fish. Smug show-off! But really, he was doing a much better job
of appealing to his target than I was.
When you have a great idea, write a query, and toss it out to
every editor you can think of, you're the Jenna fisherwoman.
You figure that if you just toss that line out there enough,
some smart editor is going to come snatch it up. And sometimes
you'll get lucky, but more often, you'll come up empty. What
you really want is to be the Anthony fisherman.
So let's go over those editor-luring techniques.
The Right Spot:
This is the most important part of the equation. You have to
know where your idea will fit. Don't assume that just because
your topic is about weddings, it'll be right for every wedding
magazine. Pick a magazine genre and get to know it well. Read
at least five or six wedding magazines, cover to cover, and jot
down the names of the sections and columns. How long are the
articles in each section? What is the tone? Is the magazine
targeting brides on a budget or no-expense-is-too-silly ones?
Which topics seem to come up in every issue? Know exactly where
your article would fit within the magazine and be prepared to
tell the editor.
The Right Time:
Magazines have long lead times (the time between an article's
acceptance and the time when it's published), sometimes a year
or more, but typically more like four to six months. Your great
Christmas pitch is not going to get accepted in October. Think
ahead and pitch ahead. Want to pitch an article about picking a
flattering swimsuit or how to choose a summer camp? Do it in the
early winter or you might as well wait until the following year.
The Right Bait:
This is your query itself, and it has to be irresistible. A
small weed stuck to your lure will tip off the bass that it's
fake. Every sentence of your query has to reek of
professionalism. Mimic the tone of the article in your query.
The first paragraph of the query should read like the first
paragraph of your proposed article. Include samples of your
research and names of those you plan to interview. Throw in a
juicy quotation from one of them if possible.
The Right Rig:
These are your clips. If your query doesn't work, the clips
probably won't even be read. But if your query is good, your
clips can make or break the deal. Don't blow it by including
samples from your blog, Epinions, WriteforCash, your high
school newspaper, or an e-zine that runs anything people send
in. This will automatically tell the editor that you have no
professional experience. Even if that's the case, you don't
want to flaunt it. Build up those clips any way you can,
preferably in print (community newspapers, regional magazines,
and trade magazines are less competitive than national consumer
magazines, and all respectable places to earn clips).
Understand that if you've never proven yourself in a particular
area of writing (health writing, let's say), you probably won't
get a plum feature assignment that requires heavy research.
Either write the article on spec to show you can handle it, or
start by pitching shorter, front-of-the-book items to prove
your chops.
The Right Technique:
Some editors prefer longer queries, some prefer shorter. Some
accept reprints, some don't. Some are okay with simultaneous
submissions, multiple submissions, e-mail queries, and informal
letters of introduction - some aren't. You'll learn some of
these things in the writers' guidelines that you find on a
magazine's website or in the Writer's Market or the American
Directory of Writer's Guidelines. Others, you can find out by
networking with writers on message boards like
http://absolutewrite.com/forums/ and www.mediabistro.com/bbs,
or joining groups like www.freelancesuccess.com and
www.asja.org. And some you'll learn along the way through trial
and error. There is no one-size-fits-all technique that'll work
for all editors. About all they seem to agree on is that they
hate it when their names are misspelled!
My biggest mistake as a beginning freelancer was the same as my
biggest fishing trouble: I didn't target well. I'd come up with
an idea and send it to every editor I could find in the
Writer's Market who sounded remotely appropriate for my topic,
whether I'd read the magazines or not.
Now I know that it's a sign of respect for my profession and my
industry if I take the time to study the detailed guidelines
editors provide every month: their magazines. Before I can
figure out how to bait my hook, I first need to find out what
the fish are biting. And if I'm feeling strapped for cash, I
don't even need to buy copies - I can head to the library and
spend my afternoon reading and taking notes there.
Part of the thrill of fishing is that you don't catch a fish
every time you throw your line out. It wouldn't feel like an
accomplishment if you did. Sometimes, you can do everything
right - the perfect cast, the perfect spot - and not even feel
a nibble. When this happens with a query, there may be
something going on behind the scenes you don't know about:
Maybe they've recently assigned an article on your topic, or
the section is about to be redesigned, or the editor's budget
for freelancers just got slashed.
What matters is that you get that line back in the water fast,
and target your next mark just as carefully. Soon, you'll reel
in assignments with ease.
Tight lines, writers!
Source: http://www.ArticlePros.com/author.php?Jenna Glatzer
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