To continue with a theme I began on Tuesday -- how to make yourself so pleasant to work with that magazine editors gravitate toward you -- here are two ways to “put yourself on staff.”

By that, I mean radiating such an acute sensitivity to the way a particular magazine operates that you give the impression of being a member of the staff. The importance of doing so cannot be overstated. Remember, you’re dealing with some of the most stressed-out people on the planet -- magazine editors -- and anything you can do to make yourself an island of relief will be so wildly appreciated that it will increase your chances of getting assignments.

Call at the right time of day, on the right day of the week. Make an effort to learn the magazine’s production schedule. If it closes on Wednesday at four, don’t call to shoot the breeze with your editor on Wednesday at three. Find out when the calmest moment of the week is, and either call or send your emails then. How do you find out the magazine’s schedule? Call the main editorial number and ask to speak to an intern, or to the assistant of any editor whose name you glean from the masthead. Don’t ask for the editor; ask for her assistant. Introduce yourself as a writer and be ready with a raft of questions. Ask about schedules, about which editor would be most receptive to the story you have in mind, about what that editor will want to see first -- a one-paragraph tease or the full six-page proposal. Take notes. Keep the information on file. (But after six months, do it all over again; magazines change editors and procedures with notorious rapidity, especially in this unsettled climate.)

Learn the magazine’s style. Does the magazine refer to people on second reference with an honorific? If so, use it. If not, don’t. Does it accept Ms. or require Miss or Mrs.? Does it use a comma after the penultimate item in a serial sentence? True enough that these are little things the copy desk will catch, but the easier you make it for them, the more everybody at the magazine will think of you as a friend, an ally, somebody they enjoy working with even if they don’t consciously know why. You want people in the office meeting at the coffee machine and saying to each other, “Boy, I really liked working on the piece; it was a snap.”

None of these tricks are a substitute for substandard work. If you don’t have the goods, you’re not going to get the assignment no matter how institutionally sensitive you are. But even assuming you have a great query to sell, you have to expect that the magazine is receiving mountains of great queries. Demonstrating sensitivity to the way the magazine works may be what puts your query over the top, and gets you repeat assignments down the road.

P.S. The minute I put this up, lissaharris tweeted “he forgot, don’t tweet about your boss.” That’s a reference to my tweets, a couple of weeks ago, about how I got hired at, and fired from, the New Yorker. Yes, I suppose it’s odd for someone who got fired for making himself unpalatable to his editor to be giving advice about how to be easy to work with. Still, it’s all good advice, and until that rather unpleasant interlude it stood us in good stead.