The Five Paragraph Query Letter

Author: Terri Main

So, you have a great idea for a magazine article. You begin to look through the Writer’s Market for potential markets, and you see those dreaded words: “Query First.” What does this mean? What do you do? And, most importantly, how do you write a query letter?

Don’t panic. Query letters are easy to write, and they provide the writer with a great advantage. When you get into the habit of querying before writing, you will sell almost everything you write because you are only writing articles on topics editors have requested.

But how do you write a query letter? For me a query letter is a five-paragraph writing project. Here’s what you do in each paragraph:

Paragraph 1: The Lead

I start with the lead to the story. The intent of this paragraph is to introduce the topic and to show I can write. I spend most of my time writing this paragraph and trimming it to about 50 words.

Paragraph 2: The Proposal

I make a proposal statement which says "I would like to propose an article of about ______ words for [magazine name} tentatively titled ____________. " Then I give a one sentence summary of the article.

Paragraph 3: The Outline

I make a "prose outline" in which I list the main points I want to cover. Again this is 50-75 words. Sometimes I use a bulleted list for ease of reading.

Paragraph 4: The Credits

I list relevant credits which may include publishing credits, but may also include personal credits I think may help sell the article. Of course, when I started out, I didn't have this paragraph at all.

Paragraph 5: The Close

I use this line all the time "If you would be interested in seeing an article on this topic, let me know and I could provide the finished draft within ___ weeks of your reply."

That’s really all there is to writing the query letter. Now, you just have to start sending them out to publishers.

You should have a list of 10 markets when you start sending out the query letters. Don’t be discouraged if your idea is rejected. Send your query out to all 10 magazines before you reconsider the idea. Even then, try tweaking the query letter and send it out to another five to 10 places before abandoning a good idea.

So, the next time you see those words “Query First,” don’t panic. You are just five paragraphs away from a writing assignment.