| WRITING A KILLER QUERY LETTER: So you've committed yourself, your time and your ego to giving this writing thing a real go. You've tons of ideas for articles, short stories, e-articles, novels, non-fiction books that will take the world by the tail. There's just one little problem other than actually writing them, that is. The Query Letter. Even seasoned writers quake at the mention of query letters, yet they are so important. All the qualifications, contacts, and writing ideas in the world will mean absolutely nothing unless you can get that proposal out there to an editor, and sell it. I've lumped all those different types of writing together for the simple reason that query letters for all are basically the same. So let's tame the Query Beast. First of all, you should have checked out the target. Let's say you're writing a query for a magazine article. Look through some back copies of this magazine to familiarize yourself with the type of articles they're interested in. Who are the readers? Make a profile in your mind of who you're going to be writing this article for. I know the first stop is the editor's desk, but believe me, most editors know their readers very well. They wouldn't be the editor if they didn't. Many magazines now have an on-line presence; some will even allow email queries. You can run a search of their archives, putting in keywords for your own article proposal just to make sure that you're not re-inventing the wheel. Editors sigh very loudly when presented with a query on a subject that they ran a feature on the previous issue. So, you know your market, you know the name of the editor/department editor that you have to contact. Here goes with the letter. You need a hook start with a question of a fact connected to your subject that will grab the editor's attention. For example, a query for an article on peanut allergies in children could go like this: Some children are allergic to peanuts. Yeah, right, tell us something we didn't know. Or it could go: Five year old Johnny Carr may die if he eats his best friend's sandwich. Wow, now you've got us visions of cute little kids in jeopardy in the school lunchroom are a real attention grabber. If you thought that was hard, wait till you hear this. Now you have to firm up the hook. You have to offer the editor enough information to show that you know your subject, and that there is substance behind your statement. This is where the old journalistic What? Why? When? Where? And Who? Come into play. Tell him/her what your basic proposal is, the framework of your article. Who would you interview you don't have to give names, but explain that you'll be talking to parents and teachers about the difficulties of keeping kids and peanuts apart, and to medical experts who will explain the problem, its manifestations and strategies for action. Language is a major factor in query letters. Don't be too chatty the editor isn't your best friend, or at least, not yet! But write in the voice the magazine readers will understand and identify with. You're talking to intelligent, curious human beings, not writing a thesis, so keep the language in your query letter simple and to the point. This is how you demonstrate to the editor that your article will speak to the magazine's readers. Then you explain why you think this article fits this magazine the readers are family people with kids, in the peanut allergy scenario. They will benefit from the information as well as finding it interesting. So, your article is offering a service information and entertainment to the editor's readership. The last part is: Why You? What qualifications do you have to write this article? Well, you're a writer, and you should add here any previous writing experience, possibly include clips if you have them. For our peanut allergy article, you might mention that you have children, or know a child who has this allergy. You don't have to have medical qualifications, obviously but it's a bonus if you explain you've already discussed the issue or researched it with medical experts. Keep your paragraphs short, the information concise and clear. A query letter should be no more than two pages, preferably less. Check and recheck for typing and spelling errors, make sure you've got the editor's name correct, and that your telephone/fax number and email address appear with your home address on the top left hand corner of the first page. Print the letter out on good quality plain paper a discreet color is maybe okay, but no floral or cutesy-pie designs, please. This is a professional image you're projecting! Now, before you seal that envelope, make sure you've included a stamped, self-addressed envelope for a reply. Mark down in your diary what the letter was about, who it went to, and the date. Then cross your fingers and toss it in the mail box. Keep track if a month goes by (in the case of an article query) then a friendly follow-up phone call or brief letter could be in order. In the meantime, forget the whole thing and get on with your next project! The process is pretty much the same for a novel or non-fiction book, except that you'd keep the description in the letter fairly brief, and enclose a short synopsis of your book proposal no more than four double spaced pages is the usual. So, now who's afraid of query letters? Get writing, and good luck! © Glenys O'Connell, 2002 Writing For Children 101 the first in a series of articles looking at the world of children's writing . Writing for children and young adults is a source of creativity that sometimes gets ignored by writers until they see the vast potential and variety it offers. Children's writers can look to markets in media from newspapers and magazines to books, and to specialist areas such as literacy, text books covering a wide range of non-fiction subjects, and books for 'reluctant readers'. There's plenty of leeway within each genre, too, starting off with picture books and ending with non-fiction works on academic subjects boiled down to 'child-speak'. Enterprising children's writers have taken the paths less traveled and gone into writing computer games, TV scripts, cartoons, children's plays, greetings cards of the 'new baby' and 'happy birthday' variety, to name but a few. While most children's writers are passionate about what they want to do, and know how valuable books are to a child's development, there's usually a consensus that even if you have a message you want to send, you keep it subtle and simple. Another take on the KISS Theory this time, it's Keep It Subtle and Simple! And on the subject of messages, it's very important to remember that the books children read do help to form them as young adults, and a love of reading develops at a very early age. The baby who gums his first cardboard book and falls asleep to the sound of an adult voice speaking all sorts of words he doesn't yet understand is well on the way to his first library card! So, what are the mainstays of children's books? The Picture Book: These books are always bought by adults for children how many toddlers do you see popping into the bookstore to pick out their own reads? So, you're first off looking for a title and a hook that will appeal to the adult. That might sound cold-blooded, but it is possible to do this and still have a book that the kids will love after all, you do want your book to go somewhere after it hits the store shelves, dont you? Picture books are written to be read aloud. As you write your story, read it aloud to a discerning youngster if you've one available and see how it sounds. Is it soothing? Are there parts where your voice rises in excitement? Does it tail off to a satisfying ending? Is there dialogue that can be played up to make a youngster giggle think of the Giant in Jack and the Beanstalk declaring: Fie Fie Fo Fum!! Or the gravelly voice of Father Bear demanding to know who's been eating his porridge in Goldilocks. Picture books are usually 24 or 32 bound pages, no more than 2,000 words long. Even if you're quite the artist, most publishers dont want the author to send their own illustrations along. Check their guidelines. If you do draw well and your story has inspired you, then put a note in your query letter to that effect. Usually the publishers like to assign illustrators they know will bring in work in keeping with the publishers' house style. Having said that, the illustrations in a picture book are probably as important as the story, so you need text that creates 'pictures' that will point the illustrator in the direction you want to go. Writers interested in picture books should have both a textual and visual imagination love the words and be able to create images from them in your head. Sometimes it's the other way around the writer 'sees' pictures in his or her mind, and the story flows from that. "I think picture book writing suits me because I think very visually. That probably also explains why I'm now hooked on writing animation scripts - it's even better when the pictures move. But I also write non-fiction - I seem happy not set too much in one particular type of writing," says Diana Kimpton, the moving force behind www.wordpool.co.uk, an excellent site for children's writers. "I didn't start out writing children's books - it just happened. In fact, my first book was for adults although I had a children's story published before that. After that all my ideas were for children but I still didn't think I'd write picture books. Then Father Christmas's sleigh flew into my head with a teddy bear dangling from the back by his front paws. I've no idea where the image came from but it refused to go away until I'd written The Bear Father Christmas Forgot and that got me hooked on picture books." She added. Diana also recommends www.ukchildrensbooks.co.uk ."I started to research children's books by going to the library, visiting the children's section of bookshops and joining children's book clubs so that I could buy the books cheaply. Of course the books I didn't want to keep were given away as birthday and Christmas presents to friends who had children, " she said. "I'd never taken much notice of the children's section in bookstores until I started reading stories to my own children. It was a revelation. I hadn't realised how far children's books had come since I was a child. Such a huge and colourful variety. I was inspired,". Says Paeony Lewis. "In a way I'd already been writing for a living, but that was advertising and publicity. However, now I knew what I wanted to do with my life - be a children's author. It was nothing like the tedious world of adult fiction. To write for children I believe you need to be obsessed. It has to be your passion. Otherwise you'll never get through the obligatory initiation period of rejection (and even when you have several books published, rejections still happen). " Bev Hall has written a series of 4 books aimed at the 2 - 4 age group, based on her son Lewis' behaviour. "I decided to illustrate one of the books as I studied art as part of a fashion design course that I did - so I was used to drawing figures. I decided to try and get an agent to present me, but the feedback from most of them was that as much as they admired my work, they didn't feel confident that they could sell it. I realised that my stories probably weren't original enough and decided to adapt a couple of them and start some new ones. " I have found the Writers' & Artists' Yearbook extremely useful for information for writers in general. I also get 'Writers Magazine' which has a regular feature on 'Writing for Children' written by Narinder Dhami. The latest copy (October-November) talks about Adult characters in children's fiction and mentions Emily Smith's 'The Shrimp'. Another book for general information for writers which I have found invaluable is: 'Get Your Book Published' by Susan Curran. It talks about everything from developing an idea for a book, to synopsis, to research and preparation, to the deal and everything after that. The Penguin Books website also has a section that gives the top three tips for new children's writers. http://www.penguin.co.uk - then About Penguin, Get Published, Children's. Andrea Shavick got into children's writing by complaining! "I was complaining to a writer friend of mine about the stupid things people say to you (and your children) when you're pregnant. She told me she thought as I felt so strongly about it - I should write it down, and I did. She then told me I had the makings of a rather funny picture book for children and encouraged me to send it to publishers. The Truth About Babies was published by OUP in 1999. After that I just carried on writing, and loving it. But I have found the stories I've sold the quickest have also been on subjects I felt strongly about. Perhaps stories work best when you have something you really want to say - perhaps it shows in the writing. " The main advice everyone offers to would be writers is to have passion about your work and never give up! "You'll be extremely lucky if you are a new writer and the first person you send your work to wants it. (lucky or should I say - brilliant!) Take on board any criticism you are lucky to get and use it!" Bev says. Andrea adds "Write all the time, and keep an ideas log for when your mind goes blank!" She adds that writers should carry a notebook around with them to capture those ideas that suddenly pop up, think about the things you feel passionately about, and how you can translate them into stories. And don't be discouraged by rejections. "Nobody was ever successful at anything without trying, and also even well known authors get loads of rejections. But many publishers are interested in good new 'voices' it's the quality and saleability of your work that counts, not really your name (unless you're JKR - and even she kept going through loads of rejections) Just make sure your submissions look professional, you write a businesslike cover letter, and you submit stories to the sort of publishing houses who do that sort of thing ie don't send horror to Walker Books!" she says. In the next articles we'll look at some other forms of children's writing: 'chapter books'; readers; middle grade novels, young adult novels, and nonfiction opportunities. We'll take a browse around the other markets, too, and look at children's magazines. Later, I'll include some links to children's writing and to publishing houses that will make research easier. Now, stop and think. Can you reel off the names of half-a-dozen children's authors? Probably not most adults couldn't. Probably you got Tolkein and J.K. Rowling, Beatrice Potter may have surfaced from your own young reading days, and perhaps Ann Fine or Eoin Colfer if you've youngsters entering the Young Adult age bracket. So, maybe writing for children isn't a fast track to fame and fortune. But it is a very satisfying way to express your creativity. Flexibility seems to be the name of the game in children's publishing. Be prepared to stretch your imagination beyond the regular book shape and explore new dimensions, new forms of expression, and new media. But there is a lot of potential out there and remember, unlike plastic toys, junk food, and expensive designer clothing, buying a book to feed a child's mind is one of the few indulgences adults never feel guilty about. Andrea Shavick is Author of You'll Soon Grow, Alex (Orchard),The Best Pet (Ginn)The Truth About Babies (OUP)The Truth About Families (OUP)Roald Dahl - What's Their Story? (OUP) and children's poetry published by Macmillan, Hodder, Harper Collins, Belitha Press, Folens & OUP. Her Web site: www.shavick.com Diana Kimpton is the author of several books, including both children's and adult work.The Word Pool, www.wordpooldesign.co.uk www.wordpool.co.uk www.ukchildrensbooks.co.uk Paeony Lewis, Author of I'll Always Love You (Little Tiger Press picture book, 2001) The Castle Awakes (Hodder Wayland young reader, 2001)Cinderella's Wedding (Hodder Wayland young reader, 1999 © 2001 Glenys O'Connell, WriterInIreland |