I've been reading a ton about jumping in to the freelance arena. I often see references to sending clips to publishers along with query letters, but I can't seem to find any explanation as to EXACTLY what a clip is! Do you send the whole periodical? A literal "clipping" of your published article? A sample of a published article? An electronic version of an article that was published (when submitting via email)?

Help from the pros for a true novice, please!

I don't have much experience in this area, but it seems to me that they want you to send samples with your email, as attachments. I would send the samples, but I would add a line in your email/resume about where the samples could be found and put a link there too. Also mention that they are the attached samples, so as not to wast the editor's time.

-Matt

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-Matthew Dumas
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
- Benjamin Franklin, [u] Historical Review of Pennsylvania [\u], 1759.

Hi Lakewriter,

Editors will generally take a copy of the first page of any article you had published. This is also called a tear sheet by some editors. This tear sheet provides a sample of your writing plus shows information on the publication your article appeared in.

For convienence, I scanned tear sheets from three articles into my computer. This practice has allowed me to send to editors writing clips and the article by e-mail.

If you have not had anything published yet, you can still send a copy of the first page of unpublished works.

S. Culshaw
ironhorse21@netzsero.com

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Goals are attainable at any age. It just seems to take longer the older you get.