What Is A Query Letter
A query letter is a one page letter to entice a prospective agent or producer into requesting and reading your work - provides only brief and relevant information. - adapted from J. C. Hewitt


Here are some advantages to writing a formal query letter:

§ A well-written query letter helps prove to an editor that you are qualified to write the piece.
§ Sending completed articles blindly can indicate to an editor that you either failed to sell the article before, are submitting an article that was not written specifically for their publication or are attempting to resell a previously published article.
§ Short, informal queries will often go unread or will be given less weight by an editor if they are a stickler for the formal process.
§ A formal, detailed query gives you the opportunity to do preliminary research for a piece that can then be quickly converted into an article.
§ When submitting a query to an online publication, your query will look better than 90% of the other queries being submitted to that publication.
In the age of email, much can be said for the ability to quickly send off a brief query. This is very possible these days, and may result in more sales than writing a formal query for each publication you wish to write an article for. Still, if you want to impress an editor, online or otherwise, a formal, well-written query letter is a way to do it.

More on Query letters next time.