Querying counts.
By explorations
@explorations (1712)
United States
May 17, 2007 8:38am CST
A few days ago, I spent an hour querying places I've written for in the past. I targeted ten places and queried about very specific ideas. Out of those ten, two replied with acceptances. So, I've managed to secure $100.00 worth of work for short pieces - one for a magazine and one for a newsletter. This encouraged me to sift through my other clips and see if I can obtain more work through old sources. This taught me an important lesson - don't discount these targets.
What are your experiences with things like this? Do you prefer finding fresh targets to query, or do you like looking back at what you've done and trying for more of the same from the same places?
2 responses
@patgalca (18174)
• Orangeville, Ontario
17 May 07
I recently sent out submissions to four different magazines. To one I sent four poems. To the other three I sent short stories - all different. These were literary magazines, by the way. The poetry got rejected as did my inspirational story I submitted to a Christian magazine. That one I thought was a sure thing.
I have not heard from the other two. One of my writing group members said, "No news is good news" however I wonder whether the lack of SASE has something to do with it. Their guidelines did indicate that they would reply by email to save the environment and money, etc. I specified this in my cover letter as well. So I am hoping that they are still considering my stories rather than the lack of SASE is preventing them from contacting me.
@explorations (1712)
• United States
17 May 07
In my experience, selling those types of works are extremely difficult due to the saturation of the market. Finding small niche markets might be your best bet - many art listed in the latest edition of Writer's Market.
There's nothing wrong with following up to query letters and submissions a week after they're sent. Many will say you can do it sooner, but this seems to be the standard in the industry. I've received assignments from following up one week later, then sending a second follow-up three weeks later.
@cher913 (25782)
• Canada
17 May 07
i really dont have a whole lot of time to devote to my writing at the moment...i have gotten a part time job, so can only write for a couple of hours in the afternoon...i did have a writing gig but it stopped due to plagerism on the part of another writer (the group was shut down)...i havent really found anything else that i have the time for at the moment....
but when i do look, i tend to look for new writing jobs...
@explorations (1712)
• United States
17 May 07
I'm sorry to hear you don't have the time you'd like to devote to writing. I experienced that for so long and it was really frustrating. I'm also sorry to hear about what you experienced with that company - that seems like a really bad thing to go though. :(
