kmania

David, Thanks for a great introduction to the field. I'm a freelance pet writer and former magazine editor, and your advice is perfect on all counts. It's my goal to do some food writing (other than "Raw Diets for Dogs" and "Understanding Pet Food Labels"), so I was really happy to see this topic announced. I attended a writers group about a year ago that had a panel of three editors. One of them was Katie O'Kennedy, managing editor of Bon Appetit. Her advice was to try to break in with short, newsy pieces. The rules for BA: introduce yourself in a letter, send clips, don't send articles on spec, and send queries to the executive editor (who at the time was Victoria Von Biel--I don't have a current issue handy to make sure she's still there). Another thing to remember when sending a query is that most magazines, including Bon Appetit, are planned a year in advance, so you really have to think ahead. Kim