How To Query A Magazine

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Categories: How Tos

  • If you are an aspiring freelance writer or are a freelance writer looking to branch out into print publication through magazines, you will have to learn how to write a freelance magazine article query to submit to the publisher. There are two types of queries: query without an article and a query with an article, and they differ only slightly in how they are submitted.


    Learning how to write a good query letter to a magazine, knowing how to query a magazine, is the most crucial part of breaking into print publication with big publishers that have large circulations.

  • Tips

    • Always check your spelling before submitting.
    • Get the editor's name right and spell it right.
    • Be professional.
    • Add a 'call to action' at the end.
    • Be sure to give the editor contact information for you!

  • How to Query a Magazine

    Freelance writers are writers who don't work on the staff of a publication and who want to write an article and submit it for consideration for publication in a magazine, web content, newspaper or other print media. For freelance magazine submissions, the freelance writer usually has to query the magazine first, or query the magazine and submit an article at the same time.


    Once the query and/or query plus article is submitted, the freelance writer waits to hear back from the publication to see whether the magazine accepts or rejects the query or query plus article.


    If the query was sent alone, the magazine can then request the freelance writer to submit the article on specification (submit on spec). This means the writer would submit the article to the publication, but the publication makes no promise they will publish it and won't pay for it unless they do publish it.


    If the query was sent with an article, the magazine will usually respond with a rejection, meaning they won't be publishing the article, or an acceptance and the terms, payment, and publishing agreement for the article.


    But before a freelance writer can get published, whether submitting an article and a query together or just submitting the query alone, the query is what must be mastered.

  • Step 1: Addressing the Query

    Find the publication's address and the editor's name you will query. These two items are essential for a paper submission mailed via the post office. If you are submitting an e-query, that is a submission sent via email, you will only need the editor's name.

  • Step 2: Salutation

    Address the query to the editor's proper name. If you don't know whether the editor is male of female, you should address them by their full name: Dear Jane Smith. If you know for certain the editor is male or female, you can address it formally: Dear Mr. Smith.


    Do not assume the editor is male or female by name online, since many names can be androgynous. For example, some women are named Bobby, Jo, or another name that sounds male, while some men and women both are named Shelly, Stacy and Tracy. Get the name right, because, after all, if they can't trust you to research and get the name right, how can they trust the research in your submission?

  • Step 3: Query Body

    The body of the query letter to a magazine editor should be concise and clear and include the follow things:

    1.) What you propose to write for the magazine
    2.) Why you are qualified to write it
    3.) Who the potential readership is or what section of the publication it will fit
    4.) Contact information and closure

    Be sure to always give the editor a means for contacting you, preferably via phone or email. You might also want to include a 'call to action' by asking if you can submit the article on specification, or ask if you can send writing samples (if you don't include them).

  • Step Four: Clips or Samples

    Some editors might want to see clips, samples or tear sheets from your work. A tear sheet is a one page 'snapshot' of your writing as it appeared in another publication. These are good to show a magazine that you have written in a similar and perhaps competing publication.


    Some magazine editors will want to see writing clips or writing samples that have not been published, just to get a feel for your writing and style before they ask for the article you are querying about. The reason for this is usually because the magazine will pay a 'kill fee', which means that if they ask to see your article and then they don't publish, they pay you a fee for having written the article.


    Do not send clips or samples with the query unless the submission guidelines have clearly asked for them, but there's no reason you can't have a 'call to action' in your query offering to send them.


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