What's the most important thing to know for sending a query letter to a journal, magazine, or newspaper?

When sending a query letter, use it as an opportunity for the editor to sample the style of the piece you’re querying. In other words, match the tone of your letter to the tone of the story/article. Let them get a feel for who you are. Also, if you don’t have an editors name, find it before you query, and adress the query to that editor. In this day and age, there’s no reason this should be missing.

A query letter is a sales experience. The editor is the buyer. The buyer does not want to be distracted from his day-to-day business.

The most important things to know you learn before you write the query letter.

1.) Make sure the publication you are querying accepts freelance submissions and accepts the type of work you are submitting. Otherwise, you are wasting their time and your own.

2.) Read recent issues (6 months to a year’s worth—skimming OK here) of the magazine to make sure your topic or subject area has not been covered. If it has, the editor is unlikely to run a similar piece too soon.

3.) Make your piece fit the vehicle. If the magazine’s pieces normally run a certain length, write to that length.

4.) Unless you have a substantive track record with reputable publications and some decent tear sheets, a query letter is not likely to cut it. You will do better submitting finished pieces (that follow the precepts above). Once the editor knows your work and that you deliver, a query letter is likely to be sufficient.

Make sure that your grammar and spelling are dead-on correct. Nothing turns-off an editor more than piddley mistakes to correct.

Don’t be afraid to pander to the editorial leanings of the publication. Write to your audience.

Don’t give up.

@Knotmyday And your last bit of advice might the single most important to ensure ultimate success!