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.

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February 11, 2016 Update. Alas, my second query to Wired produced only stony silence. No reply of any kind.