Grab that editor. You walk into your office. The phone is ringing, and your boss wants your departments articles on his desk, yesterday. There's a scheduling meeting in ten minutes, and you have a pile of query letters on your desk, right in the middle of everything else you need to get done, waiting to be read. Welcome to the world of the editor.
Editors are busy people.
It's been estimated that as a writer, you have about 30 to 60 seconds to catch an editor's attention. If you can't do it in that time, the query letter is rejected. You have to grab the editor, fast. There are three ways to get an editor's attention. Give them a little known or interesting fact, ask them a question that makes them want to know the answer, or tell them a small story, called an anecdote, that makes them want to read more.