Comments and Letters About: World’s Worst Query Letters and Book Proposals For June, 2019!
REPLY:
You have a point, Barry. But, that’s why we call this “World’s WORST” Query letters, and not “Query Letters That Didn’t Quite Make The Cut.”
As the guy who sorts through all of these, I can tell you that the ones that don’t quite make it are really not that exciting. Top few reasons for rejections are:
- Having too many spelling or grammatical errors in the query letter.
- Offering a topic that has been written about ad nauseum (Such as “Freelance Writing Requires Hard Work – It’s Not Just Sitting Around Writing And Collecting Money”)
- Offering an article on a subject – no matter how well written – on something that doesn’t fit WritersWeekly’s basic format. (If I get another query from someone offering us an article on Crypto-Currency, I swear I’m going to hang myself from the mizzen mast halyard.)
- Offering a How-To on becoming a successful freelance writer when it’s obvious that the writer just started writing professionally six months ago.
For advice on correct querying, see:
QUERY LETTERS THAT WORKED! Real Queries That Landed $2K+ Writing Assignments – SECOND EDITION
-Brian Whiddon – Managing Editor
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-Dennis Clark
It takes a lot of patience to weed through those letters, huh?
-Nirmala McAfee
It’s bad luck for you to have to wade through all of these, but it’s good luck for us to get to read them and have a much-needed laugh. Cheers!
-Pamela Allegretto
Your “Worst Query Letters” column tickles me. Thanks for taking the time to prepare it. I gave myself a chuckle visualizing a dozen or so of these ‘writers’ sitting around holding a seminar on writing. Then I thought “How would I ever write the dialogue?”
-Robert L. Hazlett
This is fun up to a point, but queries that fail for less obvious reasons would be more useful, queries that fall short, but were written by people who aren’t in institutions or refugee camps.
Barry Knister