Sep. 27th, 2009

[identity profile] mbarker.livejournal.com
Original posting 16 September 2009

Writers' Digest, October 2004, pages 26 to 33, has a collection of short "nuggets of wisdom" related to getting published. Maria Schneider is the author of the compilation. Take a deep breath, and here we go:
"Send two or three clips with each query -- you don't want to bog an editor down with too many, and sending just one won't show your range." Dorothy Lehman Hoerr
Editors are busy. Don't overload them. Main points first, and cut the extra.

Hum. Obviously from the non-fiction side of the world, but... like the person who chatters on for pages in a cover letter, the point is that while you want to show your range or abilities to the editor, you are also dealing with a busy person who doesn't have time to go through everything. Don't overload them.

It's interesting, one of the regular speakers at MIT was a communications consultant who came in and gave a talk to the students. One of his key points was to remind everyone that while in school, teachers could usually be counted on to read the whole thing, no matter what -- in business, no one has to read your paper. So you have to give them a good reason to read. Just keep in mind, your reader doesn't have to read this.

Consider using newspaper style -- headline, summary of main points right up front, then the details. Especially for cover letters -- just the facts.

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