My first story for a food-related publication is coming out in a couple of weeks and I’ve already been assigned my second.
How’d I get the gig?
I asked.
Here’s the simple email I sent (sans a few details as a courtesy to my editor) …
Dear ______:
(I started my email by thanking the editor for inspiring me to try a new food preservation technique.)
I’m also writing to say what a great job you’re doing with XYZ Publication. Of course, I’m a Facebook fan, but I’m also a self-proclaimed foodie, contractor web writer for ABC Company, and a fulltime freelance writer.
Do you assign articles to freelancers or do you prefer to be queried? As a writer based here in Our Town, I’ve written for dozens of publications on a variety of topics, including food, home and gardening. My published credentials include This Publication, That Publication and Another Publication. I’d be thrilled to work with XYZ Publication.
May I send you some clips and connect with you on LinkedIn?
The editor did, indeed, ask for some clips and soon after she made the assignment: a replacement article for a writer who didn’t quite come through. I delivered a thoroughly researched and well-organized story with a couple of sidebars, and I did it beofre the deadline. Then I got another assignment.
Moral of the story: Seek out a publication you admire and send an email query.
While I can’t guarantee you’ll net an assignment, how will you know if you don’t ask?
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