Pitching WD: How to Avoid the Automatic Delete
A: About what percentage of the each edition is written by freelancers?
J: Most of it really, 75% at least.
A: Let’s say you have a beginning freelancer and you haven’t seen a lot of work from this person. What section would you most likely accept them in?
J: I think the easiest place to break into the magazine is in the Inkwell section, which is in the front of the book. It’s more of a department. It’s usually between six and eight pages and it’s the one place where you can contribute a shorter piece. Personal essays are accepted there; anything from 600 to 1,000 words. It can be a short, funny piece about an experience you had submitting some work, or it could be a short, informative piece. But I would say that’s the best place to break in.
A: And I see on your website that is one place where you prefer that the piece be submitted on spec. Is that still accurate?
J: Usually. Those pieces are either personal essays or they’re pieces where the writers are relying heavily on their first-hand experience, and on the voice that you’re able to bring to the piece. It’s just not possible to evaluate that from a query letter.
Also, I would say that when submitting feature article ideas, it’s important that writers be knowledgeable in the topic that they’re pitching. I sometimes get queries from people who want to write about how to write a novel, but they’ve never written a novel. It’s important to have some background in the topic that you’re pitching.
A: What kind of queries do you absolutely despise, or what kind of queries are automatic delete?
J: We get a lot of queries for short stories and poetry which is bizarre; we don’t publish short stories or poetry. So those are automatic deletes. But I feel the most common problem is that [queries] are just far too general. We get some queries that want to cover some aspect of writing, or the writing life, or the writing business, or something like that, but the article needs to be much more specific than that.
A: How should writers balance between giving you enough detail, but not losing you because they know you’re busy, and they don’t want to lose you with five or six paragraphs?
J: The shorter queries are probably better. It’s more about having a different hook. A lot of the topics that we cover are pretty evergreen, but that doesn’t mean that we won’t cover them again, because people always need more information. You need a hook [that] you can bring to that piece.
I would also say to review a recent issue of the magazine before submitting, because I have people refer to columns that are not in print anymore. Since the time I came on board, we’ve been gradually making some changes. There’s been some revamping and reinventing things over the past year. It’s important to look at a recent issue before you submit.
A: What makes you come to a freelancer? How should freelancers build a relationship with you to get repeat work?/p]
J: Honestly, it’s not always someone that I’ve worked with before. I approach a writer for an article in every issue, but usually it’s [due to] their platform or something specific that they’re an expert on.
A: Ok, and then what is the best way for a freelancer to wow you? If you’ve given them that first chance, that first opportunity, what is it that does that?
J: Just basic stuff. Really good writing, a sound, well-written, well-researched piece, turned in on time. That’s really it.
A: Have you had any writers and that are very guarded about their pieces, such as, no I don’t want you to correct that?
J: Once in a while. We're all about respecting writers in our publication. We are writers ourselves, so while we need to provide editorial direction, we're always willing to talk with people about the changes.
The Future Looks…
A: In your years with the magazine, have you seen any new trends in the writing world?
J: What’s been really interesting to see is what’s going on with self-publishing. Some people view that topic with such a stigma, but some people completely swear by it. I think one of the things that recent innovations have really allowed for is for that option.
When self-publishing first came out, it was enormously expensive to have to order a print run of your book. People would be selling it out of the trunk of their car. But now, with the selection of print on demand publishers, [and] having websites and being able to build audiences for themselves on Twitter and Facebook, people are able to have a venue for distributing their books that is something other than the trunk of their car.
So, the innovations in self-publishing have been interesting and it’s really something to keep an eye on in the future.
A: With everything having a digital component, have you seen a trend in writers asking for more of their digital rights? Or, have you found that writers are more savvy as far as rights and especially digital rights?
J: I haven’t really noticed a difference in it in terms of what writers have been asking for. The magazine industry is in flux right now, so I think one of the things that we need to stay on top of is the changes in the industry, and in order to remain viable, we need to acquire digital rights. It seems to me that’s its becoming more and more standard, and I haven’t encountered very much resistance to it.
We’ve been looking at what it would take to become available on the Kindle. We do offer digital issues of WD for download, [but] it’s a download to your desk top. So [digital rights] are part of the package. It’s what we need to acquire in order to offer the content in the way we're delivering it right now.
