Paula, you and me both! Those SASEs were a waste of good postage. Used to be editors were exceptionally good at responding, even with a "No thank you." Now they're so overworked and understaffed they don't have time to answer even with the free post-paid envelope.

Even better: check the magazine's editorial calendar and see if your idea fits well in one of the upcoming issues, then change it to: "I think this article would be a great addition to your [X-themed] April issue, and would love to write it for you."

One other thing that's good to do is give the editor an idea of length. Are you pitching a short front-of-the-book story? A quick filler? An 800-word article? Or a 2,000-word feature?

Sometimes I'll suggest a couple approaches. "I could write this as an 1,800-2,000 word feature, or as an 800-word article with a 400-500 word sidebar." This works especially well when one facet of the story is strong enough to stand on its own.

I've always called the background paragraph the Me-me-me section. These days I've got it down to a sentence or two and a link to my LinkedIn profile in case they want more information.

One thing I'm glad to be done with? SASEs. I probably spent thousands of dollars on unused return postage over the years. Even before e-mail became the norm for queries an who editor called to assign a story asked what the stamped envelope was for!

Not sure if statements or questions like you have get the same results… can't think why they wouldn't.

Employers are so reassured when you tell them you want the gig.