As many of you probably know (from my recent interview with Becky), I run a small company that submits stories and essays to lit mags. And when I submit said stories and essays, I include cover letters. So I write a lot of cover letters. I mean really:
I always tell people not to waste time on perfecting query letters. I have sat around with writers talking about this issue and I have never been able to believe just how much thinking goes into a query letter! Think about your opening paragraph.
Like Erik said, a bad cover letter does NOT stop a great story from getting published, and a great cover letter doesn't get a story in the door. Make it brief (Dear E., this is who I am, this is my story at X number words, it explores X themes which I've noticed in other stories you've published. X story in your last issue really resonated with me...BRIEF BIO...Yours Truly, Most Excellent Writer Friend.)
I do find the very short blips where the query says nothing but "Please see attached story" sort of annoying, perhaps because that seems so unprofessional.
This is all excellent advice. I'm on the board of an international magazine, and am editor of a different international lit mag called Sunspot Lit. I would add that one thing I've been seeing lately is a line about having written the work the week before. I always wonder why it's included, because it makes me think the writer is sending work out before they've really put a lot of attention into it. Perhaps it's supposed to wow me with how prolific the writer is, but it always comes off in a less than positive way. So, I'd add that to the list.
Some Great Advice Here! I love the freedom to "be me" you allow in your instructive and inspiring essay on cover-letter writing. Bravo! Ya, I even like to make my cover letter, and especially my bio be as much like my content as possible, and since I'm a surrealist poet, well, that makes me want to zap 'em with my own brand of weirdness and goofy fun. Ya, the bio is like how i get to add another little sneaky poem into the mix that will appear after the "main" one. Plus, I figure if they disqualify me because of the cover letter, they wouldn't like the poem(s) either. Great little article though, omg! Namaste... Bobby
I have placed poems in established, fairly well-known literary magazines (Prairie Schooner, Poetry East), but when I list prior publications I typically restrict myself to three very recent ones, no matter how obscure. I think of this as a thank-you to the editors. Are editors influenced by the big name magazines listed in the bio? Probably sometimes. Humans are status conscious. We like to be reassured that high status others think good what we tentatively think might be good. Could be the poetry ecosystem is sufficiently different from the short story/essay ecosystem that cover letters can/should be different, though. Have my poems been rejected because the editors were contemptuous of my prior pubs? Who knows?
Interesting article, but I don’t think cover letters have much to do with publishing a short story or essay. In fact, some journals refuse to read the cover letter before they read the submission. Other journals pride themselves on publishing first-time authors, which means your publishing history doesn’t matter to them. And still other journals advise writers NOT to tell them what the story is about in the cover letter. The piece itself is what will get you published—and nothing else. I was reminded of this recently while browsing through the Best American Short Stories of 1996. Among the Honorable Mentions at the back of the book (i.e., the non-winners) were people like John Updike, John Barth, Alice Adams, Saul Bellow, Junot Diaz, Jennifer Egan, Walter Mosley, Ha Jin and Zora Neale Hurston. All had impeccable credentials, but that still wasn’t enough to get their stories published in the collection.
I always tell people not to waste time on perfecting query letters. I have sat around with writers talking about this issue and I have never been able to believe just how much thinking goes into a query letter! Think about your opening paragraph.
Like Erik said, a bad cover letter does NOT stop a great story from getting published, and a great cover letter doesn't get a story in the door. Make it brief (Dear E., this is who I am, this is my story at X number words, it explores X themes which I've noticed in other stories you've published. X story in your last issue really resonated with me...BRIEF BIO...Yours Truly, Most Excellent Writer Friend.)
I do find the very short blips where the query says nothing but "Please see attached story" sort of annoying, perhaps because that seems so unprofessional.
This is all excellent advice. I'm on the board of an international magazine, and am editor of a different international lit mag called Sunspot Lit. I would add that one thing I've been seeing lately is a line about having written the work the week before. I always wonder why it's included, because it makes me think the writer is sending work out before they've really put a lot of attention into it. Perhaps it's supposed to wow me with how prolific the writer is, but it always comes off in a less than positive way. So, I'd add that to the list.
Some Great Advice Here! I love the freedom to "be me" you allow in your instructive and inspiring essay on cover-letter writing. Bravo! Ya, I even like to make my cover letter, and especially my bio be as much like my content as possible, and since I'm a surrealist poet, well, that makes me want to zap 'em with my own brand of weirdness and goofy fun. Ya, the bio is like how i get to add another little sneaky poem into the mix that will appear after the "main" one. Plus, I figure if they disqualify me because of the cover letter, they wouldn't like the poem(s) either. Great little article though, omg! Namaste... Bobby
I have placed poems in established, fairly well-known literary magazines (Prairie Schooner, Poetry East), but when I list prior publications I typically restrict myself to three very recent ones, no matter how obscure. I think of this as a thank-you to the editors. Are editors influenced by the big name magazines listed in the bio? Probably sometimes. Humans are status conscious. We like to be reassured that high status others think good what we tentatively think might be good. Could be the poetry ecosystem is sufficiently different from the short story/essay ecosystem that cover letters can/should be different, though. Have my poems been rejected because the editors were contemptuous of my prior pubs? Who knows?
That was very helpful. Thanks!
My pleasure, Karen. Thank you for reading it. I'm glad you found it helpful.
Interesting article, but I don’t think cover letters have much to do with publishing a short story or essay. In fact, some journals refuse to read the cover letter before they read the submission. Other journals pride themselves on publishing first-time authors, which means your publishing history doesn’t matter to them. And still other journals advise writers NOT to tell them what the story is about in the cover letter. The piece itself is what will get you published—and nothing else. I was reminded of this recently while browsing through the Best American Short Stories of 1996. Among the Honorable Mentions at the back of the book (i.e., the non-winners) were people like John Updike, John Barth, Alice Adams, Saul Bellow, Junot Diaz, Jennifer Egan, Walter Mosley, Ha Jin and Zora Neale Hurston. All had impeccable credentials, but that still wasn’t enough to get their stories published in the collection.