Letter of Interest

BlueBadger said:

I'm beginning my Great Journey to gather up more clients. In addition to writing about video games, I've a keen interest in animals, particularily dogs. I recently wrote an article for City Dog Magazine (citydog.ca), and it was a huge hit with the editor, so that's a bit of experience under my belt, even if it doesn't pay.

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Cool! Congratulations re: impressing the editor.

I was interested in writing something for Pet Product News (petproductnews.com), and their submissions guidelines calls for a resume, clips, and "a letter of interest."

I'm just curious as to what that entails? Is a letter of interest a query, or is it just more of a "Hello, I'd like to write for your magazine" sort of thing? How formal should it sound? And as for "clips," I'm assuming they want samples of your previous work?

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That's probably the same thing as a letter of introduction--tell a bit about yourself and your writing history, why you are qualified to write for that publication, and mention that you're interested in receiving assignments. Clips are samples of your previous work, yes.

Be business-like and formal in your letter of interest; after you've received a response, you can follow the editor's lead as far as 'tone' goes.

You might also ask for the editorial calendar. Many trade pubs work from an editorial calendar, but might also be open to queries. Check to see what the guidelines say. Also read samples of published articles on their web site to see what they've covered, as well as what style is used.

Note: This particular publication is slanted toward professionals in the pet industry, and not for pet owners.

Go for it! You never know until you try. In late 2001, I sent a letter of intro and a couple of clips to a pet trade pub and have been writing for them ever since.

Ah, so if you're already familiar with PPN, then you're ahead of the game! You know what style they use, what topics they've covered, and everything. Go ahead and send a letter to the editors and tell them all about yourself and why they should give you an assignment.

There are some dog publications listed above in the stickied posts. Browse through them and see if you find any you might like to send a query to re: Chesapeake Bay retrievers. You'll find links to guidelines, magazine web sites, sample articles, etc. Good luck!