…but I am willing to pontificate like one.
Lisa asked:
I always have a “pang” when I mention my blog in a query letter. Not that it’s bad, not that it’s good. I worry about the presumption that the editor wants to take the time to run over and look. What are your thoughts?
In a query for a service assignment (i.e., “how to” assignment), the only time you mention yourself is at the very end and then you mention the parts of yourself that make you a really fabulous fit for the article you’re pitching. (This would be different in a personal essay or maybe in a reported narrative article where your experience might be part of the piece.) So let that idea — that you’re pitching the best fitting parts of yourself and your experience — drive your decisions about what to mention.
Like if I’d won an award for poetry, I wouldn’t mention it in a pitch for “How to Groom Your Dog” (unless “How to Groom Your Dog” was a sonnet) and if I recently had a cover story called “12 Easy Steps to Mind-Blowing Sex”, I likely would not mention this in a pitch for “Crisis in Darfur: The Moral Demands of Bearing Witness.” Which is to say, even if you have something you’re really proud of, it’s important to ask, “Does this serve this particular sale?” That doesn’t mean neglecting to mention your Pulitzer because you’re pitching a romance; it just means that you tailor your “about me” paragraph to suit what you’re trying to sell.
Lisa’s blog is all about writing so if she’s pitching herself as a writer, wouldn’t it be good to share? I think … yes but probably not in the “about me” paragraph. What I would do is have my “about me” paragraph share a link to wherever my clips live, by saying, “My work appears in magazines like this, that and the other” or “I am a regular contributor to Local Newspaper” and then adding, “You can see my clips at this site.com.” Having your clips on a NOT ADVERTISER SUPPORTED web page is really the way to go. Wordpress or typepad — whichever. They offer free hosting and you can get one with your name so it will say JaneDoe.wordpress.com. That way you can send them there for your nicely formatted and organized clips, letting the editor dig around further if they want or just click straight to your writing sample. (Your “about me” part of your blog can also share more about your diversity, experience and not necessarily relevant successes.)
Then I’d have a link in my .sig line (below my name) to my professional writing blog. Exception? If you’re pitching an article about writing or about coaching (if you’re a writing coach).
What if you don’t have any writing samples? Make a blog that’s JUST FOR SAMPLES and start putting finished work up there. Don’t put your other writing stuff there, don’t put memes or photos or complaints about your neighbors — use it strictly to build your platform. If you want to write service, write up some service using your favorite market’s articles as a guide. If you want to write humor, start writing humor. If you want to have a career as a travel writing, start writing about travel on that blog. Have an editor friend help you edit some sterling pieces and definitely proofread. Then until you can say “My work appears in the following very impressive publications and you can see clips at my writing site,” you can word it like this, “You can see samples of my work at my writing site.” You’re not lying — they are samples — but you’re not screaming “I HAVE NO CLIPS!” either.
See, you want to make the editor’s busy life as easy as possible. You want to hand them your expertise and suitability on a platter. That’s why you do your best to target your clips to the publication and that’s why you don’t mention parts about yourself that don’t matter. It’s not because editors are scary and ready to get all judge-y on you (at least not any more than any other person); it’s just that they’re busy and if you do some of their thinking for them, you’re ahead of the game.
I have to tell you guys — I’m lousy at queries. After the conference I decided to step away from service and focus more on narrative but lately I’ve just been trying to make money (corporate writing/editing). I find querying pretty dang hard. (The last query I wrote was right before Christmas for an article coming out next fall. Oh and I pitched a book review due next week so you can see that I’m not querying much at all.) I’m just telling you what I know from hanging out with other writers and from editing for ePreg’s web site.
(I’d love to hear from other writers, too, so don’t be afraid to pontificate yourself!)
Possibly related posts:
(Hi Dawn, just wrote a response and it disappeared. Hope it doesn’t duplicate…)
Thanks so much for your swift work on responding to my question. Before my present incarnation as a coach/writer, I was a freelance journalist for mags and newspapers. I took quite a long break to raise my son–he’s 10–and the world is entirely flat again.
If not for the internet, blogging, ezines, news blogs, etc., it wouldn’t be possible to get educated so quickly!
my best,
Lisa
And the other thing…starting another blog makes me cross-eyed to think about. I’ll find a place on my blog to post a few (old ones).
;D
[...] Dawn at This Woman’s Work has two posts up about queries, which you can read here and here and another one here. [...]
Thank you for clarifying this Dawn! I read your comment on my little ol blog about my website and I understood the basics but you really spelled it out for me on this one. Since your feedback, I have sent out 2 more queries and I definetely feel more confident. However, like Lisa, the idea of another blog makes my pretty little head get all foggy-like and my neck gets stiff, fingers go numb… you get the idea. For now I have stuffed my offline newspaper clips on my website and provided links to everything that is published online. The website is still a work in progress and I hope it will serve me well.
Thank you! I am so glad I found your blog!
Oh now you guys don’t need whole new blogs, necessarily — not if you have other clips, especially. (Although I use wordpress to power my clips site for easy updating, it’s not a blog ‘cuz I’ve disabled comments and all that.) But it’s just easier to send a link to clips or an about you page with those links than it is to paste stuff in. Puts the onus on the editor and stuff.
I hear tell from other writers that once you have clips to a few good places that a lot of editors will just look at your query to judge your writing and assume the clips mean you’ve handled yourself beautifully with editors and will do so with them so you just MENTION the clips and they don’t always ask to see them.
(I don’t know about this ‘cuz my clips are online so people don’t ask for them anyway — they just click through if they want them.)
And Nikki, my hat is off to you for querying — querying is hard!!! So give yourself lots of applause just for showing up!!!!!
I did it! Dawn! I followed your suggestions along with a great opening for an article and my query got accepted! I seriously, and I mean, SERIOUSLY follwed what you told me in your reply to me, and I also read up on what you posted here!
Has anyone told you that you are FANTABULOUS LATELY?