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The Renegade Writer's Query Letters That Rock: The Freelance Writer's Guide to Selling More Work Faster (The Renegade Writer's Freelance Writing series) By Diana BurrellLinda Formichelli ( Marion Street Press, Inc. )
Release Date: 2006-11-01
Average Customer Rating:
List Price: $14.95
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Product Description
This convention-defying follow-up to The Renegade Writer ensures that freelance journalists get the assignments they want more quickly and for better pay with the right query letter. Successful freelancers and the editors that buy their work share their advice on pitching the perfect story with real examples that earned great assignments from major magazines. Fresh, spunky, and fun to read, this handbook favors a proven renegade approach that gets freelancers more work for more money in less time and with less stress.
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 Good reference, but not a bible. ( cacophonic )
I have these two ladies' first book and I really enjoyed it, so I snapped this one up quickly. I wasn't an enthused about this book though. The sample letters are great, as are the comments from editors and writers alike. The problem is that it's all over the map. Granted, they want to appeal to everyone across the board, but the result here is that it just skims along the surface and doesn't really make itself invaluable.
Personally, I was hoping to help on writing queries. It gives us that in the form of an FAQ, but they're very basic questions. Helpful, but simple. As for the letters, there is only one that really applies to beginners, and the rest are by writers who have clips and other writing experience. For a beginner starting out, this creates a feeling of "how am I supposed to get published with no clips?" It would have been much more useful to multiple letters that appeal to each level of freelancer who would be reading this book, and it would have been nice to have a handful of queries written by writers just starting out.
Overall it's a cool reference, but it's not something I'd say you need on your shelf... especially if you're already comfortable writing your queries.
I highly recommend the authors' other book though: [ASIN:1933338008 The Renegade Writer: A Totally Unconventional Guide to Freelance Writing Success (The Renegade Writer's Freelance Writing series)]]
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 Writing a query letter, read this first ( sydney7 )
I wish I had this book years ago. I had to learn the hard way by sending out queries and then reading the comments from editors. I learned a lot from reading the queries in this book, and I've been writing query letters for a long time. If you don't buy the book, then do yourself a favor and at least skim through it at the library. If you get one thing out of it, it will save you time and agony later. Excellent book!
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 Query Letters that Rock ( babasills )
Too general--not enough specific informnation on "how to write a query" The book How to Write Attention Grabbing Query & Cover Letters was much more effective.
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The BEST book on query letters!
This is the second book in The Renegade Writer's Freelance Writing series. As suggested by the title, this book takes a different approach than most writing books. Rather than spewing forth rigid instructions and how-to's, this book answers questions and offers samples. The author's are unconventional in their approach and successful. They encourage writers to THINK rather than just follow rules. If rules need to be broken in order to offer your best work, break them without hesitation.
The first section (80 pages in length) answers common questions about writing query letters. How and when do I send it? Length? Content? Clips? Follow-up? Fees? A number of terms are defined; special cases detailed. They tackle basically everything you want to know about query writing. Their answers are informative, thorough and funny.
The second section (the remainder of the book, about 120 pages) contains sample after sample of query letters that worked along with explanations of why they were successful. The authors of this book give their perspectives, but so do the authors of the sample queries and the editors who bought the stories being pitched. Samples come from nearly every type of magazine or periodical: Parenting, Oxygen, USA Weekend, Midwest Airlines, E Magazine, Fitness, Entrepenuer ... and many, many more. The article types are varied as well, from personal profiles to health articles and travel. It's a mine of valuable information.
Final Thoughts: EXCELLENT! The best book I have found on this topic. A must-have resource for freelance writers.
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The BEST book for writers ( patricknluann2 )
As a freelance writer, I've made successful pitches to magazines, but after reading The Renegade Writer's Query Letters That Rock, I've changed my strategy for submitting story ideas. WOW! The book is divided into two sections. The first part deals with questions the authors have received from writing students and the answers are filled with practice advice and words of experience from Linda and Diana. Then the book gets to the good part - actual query letters that push the envelope and make editors sit up and take notice. Following each letter is narrative from the letter's author and the editor who assigned the story.
I keep my copy next to my computer and refer to it often for practical advice. This is definitely the best book I've read concerning writing and how to get ahead in publishing. Bravo!
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