But What’s In It For Me?!?  

By Beth Ann Erickson 

We’ve been talking queries these last few weeks.

I know. Boring, eh?

I don’t think so, and I hope you don’t either because today I’m going to blow the top off everything you thought you knew about writing an effective query.

So, let’s begin by taking a peek into the life of a busy publisher…

Day begins with a ton of e-mail and stack of mail.

First thing… sort out the junk. (I actually study and file my junk mail, but that’s another article.)

Next we sort the queries. Bills and such go in another pile.

So, let’s look at pile #2… the queries.

Phone’s ringing. UPS just dropped off a package. Dog’s ballistic.

Rip… Liz opens the first envelope. “To whom it may concern: I have written a novel.”

Liz tosses the letter and throws a rejection letter into the SASE.

Dog’s still barking like a fool. Beth wanders into the office muttering, “Anyone seen my bag of carrots? Need something to chew. Now. Carrots?”

Liz ignores her and slices the next envelope. This one smells like perfume: Dearest editor, enclosed you’ll find my query…”

Liz tosses it in the recycling. No SASE this time so this person won’t receive a response.

She grabs he next query and reads: Dear publisher: Mac Johnson is a man with a problem….

Liz rolls her eyes and this letter follows the same route as the previous queries.

Beth’s still wandering through the office digging for her bag of carrots. The dog’s transferred her attention to a tennis ball. She grasps it in her mouth and is now unceremoniously dropping it into Liz’s lap as she opens the fourth envelope.

“Dear Maury,” she reads, “I enjoyed Beth’s latest article in Writing Etc.” Liz smiles and leans back in her chair. “I found her advice to tightly target my queries to be invaluable. In fact I’ve sold four articles using this technique!”

Liz shoos Lucy away and zeros in on the letter. “In fact,” the letter continues, “as a long time subscriber to Writing Etc., I’ve noticed that you rarely cover a particular aspect of the writing life and I’d like to address that today…”

“Hey, Beth,” Liz yells, “come here. I think I found a hot one….”

See what happened here? Let’s analyze a bit.

Letter #1: This person didn’t personalize the query. A writer who doesn’t take the time to address the query to an actual human being runs the risk of appearing lazy. Publishers tend to feel that lazy writers produce lazy work.

Secondly, our continually updated online guidelines state that we aren’t accepting fiction. This reinforces the notion that this writer may be lazy. If they’re not lazy, they’re not computer literate and that’s a detriment when it comes to marketing your writing. Newbie authors must harness the power of the Internet to sell books. No short cuts.

Also, this letter’s first sentence doesn’t pass the “Who cares” test. Each sentence in your letter needs to effectively pass this particular test to cut the mustard in a highly competitive field. So you’ve written a novel? Who cares? Lots of people have. What makes your novel different? Unique? A pleasure to read? A reason to give up days of your reader’s life?

Letter #2: Perfume? Please don’t douse your queries in perfume. Seriously.

Queries are a business correspondence. This means no perfume. It means you shouldn’t call anyone “dearest.” We’re not your best friend. We’re your potential publisher.

Simply stated, you don’t need to romance a potential publisher (someone who will invest mucho bucks on your book). What you do need to do is convince them that you know how to effectively market your title. If you know how to sell, you’ll probably know how to sell books.

Now let’s move onto the second sentence: “Enclosed you’ll find a query.”

Well duh. It’s a query letter. I can think of a million better ways to start this letter, I’m sure you can, too.

Query writing is not for the faint-hearted. It’s a tough job, but the better you get at it, the faster you can trounce your competition and land the big assignments.

Let’s move on.

Letter #3: “Dear publisher.” Yup. Another impersonalized query. Make sure you send all your queries to an actual person.

After all, suppose you queried the New York Post. What would happen to your correspondence if you sent it to “New York Post.” Heaven only knows who’d finally end up with the letter. However if you send it to “Jackie Smith” at the New York Post, chances are you’ll get it read.

A little sleuthing will give you an incredible edge.

Now, let’s talk about first sentence. Here it is: Mac Johnson is a man with a problem….

It’s OK. Big problem with it is that dang near every fiction query starts with this sentence. At least the ones we get. Really.

Secondly, I’ve never heard of Mac Johnson. Liz probably hasn’t either. That’s probably because he’s a fictional character.

So, why should we care he has a problem?

Sounds brash, but it’s true.

Which brings me to my main point…

Every query you write need to answer this question: WIIFM.

Copywriters instantly know what this means. If you’re not a copywriter, I’ll explain.

When copywriters draft a sales pitch, the first thing they do is step into the mind of the reader. They study them. They read what they read. Eat what they eat. They, in essence, become the reader (or as copywriters call them, the “prospect”).

Kinda freaky, eh?

I thought so until I realized how important it is to touch the mind (and heart) of your readers if you’re going to get them to…

ü      Read your query

ü      Purchase your articles

ü      Read your articles

ü      Pick up your book

ü      Actually read the thing

Touching the emotions of your readers… no matter who they are… is almost always easier when you remind yourself of “WIIFM” or “What’s in it for me?”

Query number three clearly did that in a big way.

So, what’s the WIIFM in that third query? Well, he stroked our ego. He not only did everything right… called us by our right name… mentioned that he was a subscriber… he went so far as to let us know what he found this tiny e-mag helpful.

Smart marketer.

Right about now you’re probably wondering what’s the best way to apply this newfound knowledge to your queries?

Ah… that’s what we’ll talk about next time!

~~~

Beth Ann Erickson is Queen Bee of Filbert Publishing and the only writing ezine that'll make your writing sparkle, help you write killer queries, and get you on the road to publication fast. Better yet, you'll receive the e-booklet "Power Queries" when you sign up for your free subscription. Subscribe today at http://FilbertPublishing.com

This article may be reprinted, distributed, and posted freely as long as the entire byline is included.

© 2001-2006 Filbert Publishing.  All Rights Reserved.