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Seamus123
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TitilateMe
Inquisitive... always.
- Joined
- Jun 15, 2006
- Posts
- 1,475
Seamus, I think the cover or query letter content depends on a few things. One is what kind of freelance work you do. If it's for magazines, you might want to include a lead as well as your article idea and proposed length. You should include something about publication of an article, but you don't need to quote it. Everything I've ever read and been told about query letters indicates that it shouldn't be more than a page.
Being a stringer (or freelance newspaper article contributor) isn't a bad idea, as it will give you some practice, and if you need to start with a small publication, you'll get more feedback from the editor and copyeditor(s). Granted, news journalism is a different animal than magazine writing, but it will get you used to time and space constraints like nothing else.
If you want more info, you might want to pick up a copy of the most recent copy of the Writer's Market guide or take a look at it at the library. It has all kinds of useful tips as well as info on all kinds of publications you might sell to.
So, have I been published? Yeah, a few times, in small publications, and I was interviewed as a stringer for local paper (the "biggie" around here), but I chose not to take that opportunity. Nope, I'm not a professional writer.
Being a stringer (or freelance newspaper article contributor) isn't a bad idea, as it will give you some practice, and if you need to start with a small publication, you'll get more feedback from the editor and copyeditor(s). Granted, news journalism is a different animal than magazine writing, but it will get you used to time and space constraints like nothing else.
If you want more info, you might want to pick up a copy of the most recent copy of the Writer's Market guide or take a look at it at the library. It has all kinds of useful tips as well as info on all kinds of publications you might sell to.
So, have I been published? Yeah, a few times, in small publications, and I was interviewed as a stringer for local paper (the "biggie" around here), but I chose not to take that opportunity. Nope, I'm not a professional writer.
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Seamus123
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Thanks for your advice. The letters i'll be sending would be more speculative rather than geared towards writing a specific story for whatever publication it is. I want to put some of my published magazine work in with my covering letter/cv and I'm not sure about how to format it - a photocopy of my piece in the magazine? or just the text of it? with the samples I include at the moment it's just the text of what I've written, whereas the magazine articles have formatting and pictures and all that stuff you'd expect. Congrats on being published!
herecomestherain
Literotica Guru
- Joined
- Oct 3, 2003
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- 908
I think a good quality photocopy of the article/s is an excellent item/s to include. You should probably add your name, address and contact details to the photocopy as well as the title and date of the publication. Refer to them in the cover letter - "I've attached copies of my most recent..." Good luck.
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