Who Do You Know?...Finding the Right Editor to Query

Do you think it's easy?

You can find an editor for your favorite magazine by looking at the masthead, right? Yes, you can probably find six or eight of them, but finding the right one for your query is a little tougher. Magazines have a hierarchy of editors on staff from Editor-in-Chief to Editorial Assistant. Submit to the wrong one and your query may be rejected or it may simply be lost.

Of course, the first place to look is on the writer's guidelines page. While the guidelines don't always name names (they tend to change frequently in this business), they often will tell you to whom you should submit your ideas. Once you have the title, look it up on the magazine's masthead to get the name. You should always address your query to a specific person. If the guidelines don't tell you to which editor you should submit, you'll have to choose one.

How can you choose?

The biggest "don't" here is "don't pick the one whose name you like." Also don't pick the person at the top of the masthead. That's usually the Publisher or the Editor-in-Chief. Neither of these people assigns stories to freelance writers. Don't pick the person on the bottom of the list. This could be a contributing writer (a freelancer like you) at the very least or an Editorial Assistant who also does not assign stories. They do clerical work, sometimes proof or copy edit, sometimes fact-check or write articles for the magazine.

Make an informed choice by learning the general duties for each level of editor. A concise online source for defining editors is Ed's Magazine Glossary. It lists almost every jargon and abbreviation in the magazine business. In addition to defining the editorial titles, the definition often tells you where that particular editor falls in the hierarchy.

As Ed says an associate editor usually writes or assigns articles for specific departments within the magazine. Since the most common break-in point for a writer new to the editorial staff is the departments and shorter specific-themed columns, the associate editor will be the most receptive to your query. An associate editor may also be called a senior editor in some instances.

What about those web forms?

Many magazines have web forms for contacting the magazine or sending letters to the editors. Although they tell you to use them if you have story ideas, don't use web forms. They scream "amateur!" and "lazy!" The primary intent for these forms is for letters to the editor or other readers' feedback. Allure magazine's website has a "file upload" space, but I seriously doubt a query letter submit by web form will get the attention of the associate editor.

Instead scour the website to see if you can find an online masthead. Sometimes the editors' email addresses are linked to their names, and if you have no information saying "No e- queries," then send a brief - two or three sentences at most - introducing yourself and your idea and asking permission to send more information.

If there is no email link, scour several issues of the magazine, looking first for articles by your target editor. Sometimes in the byline or at the bio at the end of the article you'll find an email address. You can look at other articles by staff writers to see if you see how their email addresses look - lastnamefirstinitial@magazine.com - and try to adapt your editor's name to that format, but you risk losing your email into the vastness of cyberspace if you get it wrong.

If you still haven't had any luck finding an email address, you have two choices. First, you can mail directly to the magazine with "ATTN: MR. T - ASSOCIATE EDITOR." Or second, you can be bold.

Call the magazine and ask to speak your target editor. You'll likely get his assistant, but whomever you get, keep it short and simple. Introduce yourself and that you have an idea you believe is perfect for the magazine. If the editor wants to hear it, pitch it in two sentences (practice this A LOT!). If the assistant won't let your call go through or if the editor says he doesn't have time, politely ask if you could email it to him for his convenience.

If you get the address, write your query in the body of the email. NO attachments. Some computer systems filter out email with attachments. And keep it short. You should've written it and cut it at least twice before you picked up the phone. You need it ready to send as soon as you hang up.

If you need help writing your query, try these articles: (all include samples)

1) Writing.com's "Do's and Don'ts for Query Letters"
2) PoeWar's "How to Write a Query Letter"
3) 3 Questions…and Answers' "First Impression…The Article Memo"





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