(Comments: The "RE:" is optional. The writer used "RE:," meaning 'regarding' to inform the editor what she was submitting.)

Comments: In many instances, you will address the editor with a more formal salutation, such as "Hello [Editor's First Name, Last Name] or "Dear [Editor's First Name, Last Name]." This writer used a more friendly salutation because he has already worked numerous times with this editor.

Comments: All query letters must use the opening paragraph as a strong "lead-in" to interest the editor right away. One way to do this (as most professional writers do) is to use the first paragraph of your article as the opening lead-in of your query letter. If you review our other query letter samples at FreelanceWriting.com, you will discover you can use other techniques for an opening lead-in to interest an editor in what you are pitching. As you can see, this writer uses the opening paragraph to make a pitch right away, instead of providing tidbits of interesting narrative from his article to grab the editor's attention. Is he right or wrong in starting his query letter this way?

Some writers may feel that this writer could have made a stronger lead-in, either providing an opening narrative, a quote, an anecdote, etc. to excite the editor. Other writers may feel that this one sentence lead-in supports itself. The writer of this query letter states what he is covering in his article (back to school health and safety tips), but what really grabs the editor's attention is the name of the person involved in this article, a renowned pediatrician and book author.

(Comments: This writer knows he has an invaluable, in-demand and authoritative public figure for his article. He uses the second paragraph to establish the credentials and credibility of this person who is providing the expert "safety tips" for his article.

(Comments: Every query letter needs to have a unique selling point (USP). What makes this story pitch unique? Although the writer does not elaborate on the USP, it is self-explanatory to the editor. The unique selling points are:

1) the writer is proposing a hot topic in this category. All parenting magazines have sizable budgets to buy articles of this kind to grow their readerships and advertisers.

2) the writer reviewed the editorial calendar ahead of time and discovered this magazine always publishes articles that are similar to his proposed article.

3) The subject of his article—a nationally renowned pediatrician—is simply priceless.

4) The writer mentioned that Dr. Brown is releasing a sequel to her bestselling book, which is already known to the readers of this magazine.

5) the writer creates additional demand to buy his article because of its very timely topic: kids are returning to school soon and parents will certainly read this article and recommend it to friends.

In my opinion, the writer could have included a few sentences of the unique selling point to help the busy editor visually see the possibilities that his article will bring to the magazine's readers and to its reputation as a leading parenting magazine.

(Comments: This writer has reviewed the editorial make-up of the magazine. He knows the specific departments and columns, their word length and editorial tone, as well as what the editor expects in a full-length feature article. He also advises that he can provide content for the print magazine and its website.

(Comments: Because this writer has worked with this editor before, he generalizes his writing experience. A better way is to provide specific names of magazines and websites that have published similar material (most recently), and where the editor can read them (if online).