I have to complement Wired Magazine, even though they just rejected an article proposal that I sent them. They seem to be treating writers fairly and I wish other publications would follow their lead. They have the query letter process figured out so that a person knows where they stand. How so?
The first good thing is a clear path to query, a web page designed to accept proposals. The next positive step is that you get an e-mail acknowledgement of your submission, so you don’t have to wonder if they got it. And then there is the turnaround. In only a week they responded to my query. They rejected it, but the point is that they told me so. Knowing that they didn’t want it allowed me to redo it for another publication. With most magazines you don’t know how long to wait before giving up and trying somewhere else. More?
The rejection letter itself, although generic and devoid of any specific information, did include encouraging language, telling me to feel free to submit new ideas. They also attached a .pdf file containing their Writers’ Guidelines. It had more specific information than I had before. All in all, I can work with this kind of treatment.
1) “The Cell Phone Revolution.” Cover story for American Heritage’s Invention and Technology. An American focused story on the history of cell phones. It’s highly compressed to make it quicker to download. Still around 4 megs: http://wp.me/a3XN10-6c
2) “Mobile Telephone History.” Telektronikk. (Journal of Norway’s telephone system.) A comprehensive, world-wide treatment of mobile telephone history.
3) “Gold: From Panning to High-Tech Mining.” Another article for American Heritage’s Invention and Technology. This is a huge file (18 megs!) but beautifully illustrated.
5.) Rock&Gem Magazine (external link) published in January 2016 my 2,800 word article, “A Nevada Turquoise Adventure.” The article is not publicly available, but see this page (internal link) for more information.
6.) Rock&Gem published my “Goldfield Gems” article in their May, 2016 issue. (internal link)
7.) Another article, this time on Garnet Hill, appeared in August. (internal link)
8.) In March, 2017, Rock&Gem published my article “The Meaning of Mariposite.” Background is here. (internal link)
9). In April, 2017, Rock&Gem published my article about Quartzsite, Arizona. Background is here. (internal link).
I’ve also been published in the noncommercial world of the literary magazine. The Temenos Journal recently published my first creative nonfiction essay, “Describing The Elephant.”
In the September/October issue of Outdoor California, two of my articles will appear. The first is called High Water Legacy and the second is called A Bypass By Any Other Name. These articles are about the Yolo Causeway Wildlife Area near Sacramento, CA. There is no online presence for this hardcopy magazine.
I’ve recently been writing articles for the West Sacramento News-Ledger (external link). I’ve put the articles up at this site, along with additional photographs. All links are internal.
A. Fairly well, although I am writing more query letters than articles.
Q. What’s the count?
A. Over the last three months I’ve sent out at least 13 queries. From that, I’ve had one article published, one is awaiting publication, and there are green lights to write two more.
Q. Only 12 queries in three months?
A. I do other things beside write, although I prefer to write first.
Q. Still, it does not seem that productive.
A. A good query letter can take days to put together. You have to know your subject well enough to convince an editor that you can write about it. If you are writing about an electric guitar you do not need to know how to play (although that would really help) but you better know its parts, something about its history, and how people are using it today. You also need to know about the magazine you are writing for, since every query has to be tailored to every publication. The more complex the subject, the more you have to research. Just for a query letter. Having said all this, however, one has to know when to stop. Since the vast majority of proposals are rejected, one can’t put too much time into them. It’s a balancing act between being convincing and accepting the reality of rejection.
Q. Why do you think the majority of your queries are turned down?
A. I don’t know. I’m only notified when someone wants to go-ahead with a project. I don’t get rejection notices with reasons.
Q. What do you get?
A. I get nothing at all. Silence. No response.
Q. Then how do you know what you are doing wrong?
A. I don’t. If I am in fact doing anything wrong. Let’s say Via rejects a query. It’s possible Sunset may accept the same proposal. So where is the wrongdoing? Perhaps there isn’t space for the article I propose. Perhaps they think my writing doesn’t fit their magazine. Perhaps they’d like a writer they know. And, of course, perhaps the magazine thinks I am a poor writer. Who knows if you’re not given a reason? There is one thing that I struggle with, something that may keep me out of contention.
Q. And that is?
A. Enthusiasm. My queries are definitely more enthusiastic and over-the-top friendly than my normal writing. Proposals are meant get a reader’s attention quickly, not be sustainable for 2,000 words. But that tone may work against me.
Q. Do you follow on to find out what’s happened?
A. No, unless I have an article I really want to do. I’ve only followed up on one proposal in the last few months. I strongly prefer to pitch another article, rather than focusing on an old idea. It’s like a job interview: if they want you, they will call. Unlike a job interview, one’s persistence should not be on trial. I trust an editor will get in touch when I put a good idea in front of them.
Q. Does networking help?
A. It might but I haven’t pursued this. You can e-mail me if you think it helps. I can see the benefit of knowing various editors, such as having their specific e-mail addresses, but I don’t know how this would come about. I have a LinkedIn account but that is all. I will ponder this.
Q. Any tips?
A. I used to send out queries in the middle of the night, or on weekends, whenever I got them done. I am now thinking that is a bad idea. The best time might be during a workday, so that your e-mail pops up while they are at the office. Otherwise, your e-mail will be quite a way down in their inbox when they get back to work. Just a thought.
News-Ledger Editor Steve Marschke contributed to this report.
January 15, 2014
Old ‘Sail Inn’ is gone — for now
New! For an article on the Sail Inn’s reopening, click here (internal link)
By Thomas Farley, News-Ledger Correspondent
Last August, after operating Sail Inn Food and Spirits for 27 years, Joan Washburn lost her lease. The old time bar at 1522 Jefferson Boulevard closed up shop. Washburn founded the West Sacramento landmark with little planning and little idea of what was to come.
In 1986 Washburn’s postmaster, Bill Kristoff, presented Joan with an opportunity to lease a family property on Jefferson. (Kristoff is now the longest-serving member of the West Sacramento City Council.) The property had been a bar before. Joan’s fiance encouraged her, reasoning that she had to diversify from just dealing in real estate.
As Joan puts it, “Shazam! I’m owner of a bar.”
Almost as surprising to her was the reception she first met. “It was so busy initially when I first got there. It was standing room only. We would cash $20,000 in paychecks on a slow Friday night. After I cashed those I would go to the bank, swap the checks out, and cash another $20,000.”
Less hectic was the steady weekday crowd, often coming in after work.
Many employees from nearby businesses wound up at The Sail after their shifts ended. A steady stream came from workplaces like Tony’s Meat and Cheese, Tecon Pacific (now Clark Pacific), Weyerhaeuser, the Port, the Post Office, and the Rice Growers Association. Joan said this changed later as Southport developed. “You now have the bedroom community crowd versus the after-work crowd.”
But business was always good in the early years and Joan was proud of the Sail. Which she wanted to be known first as a good place to eat, not just a bar.
For many the Sail Inn was their place to go, their Cheers. Dan Cordes remembers. “It was so comfortable for me that I could pass out after closing and sleep on top of the bar. Hanging out with Darren the bartender was great. Just the camaraderie of it all. A place to let go and just relax with friends.”
The Sail even made an impression on those who couldn’t go in. Paul Choate recalls passing by many times as a youth. “I worked at Club Pheasant in 1977 and remember Jefferson Boulevard as a rural road: all but empty except for fields and warehouses. I was too young to stop at the Sail Inn then, but marveled at the boat-on-the-roof.”
After the business closed, Joan left to do scuba diving in Monterey. Joan spent 10 days in the water, diving and relaxing. She says she is ready to move on. What’s next? She owns the vacant property next to the Sail Inn; a nursery might be possible if issues with the city and neighbors were worked out. But she expresses the most interest in writing.
“Writing books,” she says. “That’s always what I thought I’d be doing in this phase of my life — writing books. Right now, though, I am still trying to sit in a room with people and not say ‘What can I get you?’”
Paul Choate sums it up well. “It’s sad that fun places like the Sail Inn are dying out. The Sail Inn was home to generations of local flotsam and jetsam from West Sac. All were welcome, the food was plentiful and cheap, as was the alcohol and entertainment. The closing of this homespun icon marks a change for the new West Sacramento of urban developments and big box malls. Hopefully West Sacramento will make room for more local businesses with flavor and style like the Sail Inn had.”
Choate may yet get some of what he misses.
As the News-Ledger paid a visit on the old building along Jefferson last week, Archie Morse was on the site, getting it ready for a rebirth. Decades of grit had been scoured from the floor, and the kitchen was being readied for expansion and upgrades.
The Sail Inn is being readied for a new life — as a bar and eatery with fish and other pub fare on the menu — by new owners.
Morse said he is the property owner and will be the primary owner of the new iteration of the Sail Inn. He’ll be working with the owners of Sacramento’s Shady Lady, who’ll be handling the day-to-day workings of the Sail Inn.
“A dive bar was what it was,” he said of the former Sail Inn. “What it’s going to be is a clean restaurant and bar. It’s going to be more in the vein of ‘Shady Lady.’ That has a 1920s Prohibition feel to it, and this will be more of a clean fish house.”
He hopes to open “within the next couple of months.”
I’m a paid stringer for the West Sacramento News-Ledger (external link). For permanence, I’ve put most of the articles up at this site, along with additional photographs. All links are internal.
As I continue to put out query letters I continue to think about what I should use this blog for. My 2008 article on gold mining, published by American Heritage’s Invention and Technology Magazine, does not seem to be on the web. It is a wonderfully illustrated article so I think I will try to put it on-line, at the least as a .pdf file. At 12 full pages, it will probably make for a huge download. But a colorful one!
Quick update: Here is the gold mining article in .pdf. All 18.5 megs! Gold mining article
