Cover letter? What to put?

Phrase it like a letter, albeit a business one. Don't try to be clever or overly friendly. Just say your name, wordcount, title, and publication credits. Keep it short.

Keep it super short, and to the point. Something like this:

Dear Mrs. (Editor's Name Here),

Please find enclosed for your consideration a 4000 word urban fantasy story "Title".

My previous sales were to Market #1, Market #2 and Market #3 (*). I graduated the ABC Workshop in 2010.

Sincerely,

Author.

--

(*) Don;t worry if you have no publishing credits. This shouldn't hurt you if the story's good. Most editors love discovering new talent. If you DO have a bunch of credits, do not list dozens of them. Choose your BEST 2-3 and list them - or if they are roughly equal, list the most recent.

poppyseed said:

Who should I address it to?

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I've read that you should always address it to the most senior editor (assuming the market lists multiple editors). A few markets actually prefer "Dear Editors" but unless they specifically state that I think it's best to address a person. Once or twice I've subbed to markets where an editor's name wasn't listed anywhere at all, so I went with the dreaded "Dear Editor" - but you can usually find out who the people in charge are by reading the "About" page, or ask here.

My cover letters are pretty much just like Alex's: short, sweet, all the basic info, no attempt to "sell" the story (or myself as an author[1]) here -- the story sells itself or it doesn't, and if the editor only has x minutes to spend on my submission, I'd much rather it be spent on my story than my cover letter. (-:

-Suzanne

[1] I see this a lot in cover letters with resumes as well, so somebody out there is handing out the advice that people need to aggressively sell themselves. There's really nothing quite like a "I'm the greatest candidate you will ever see and my superior qualifications will make you throw rose petals at my feet as you beg me to consider the job offer you will, without question or hesitation, be directly offering me the very instant you have seen the golden halo of awesomeness that surrounds my resume" cover letter to send them straight into the NO pile. I would imagine the reaction is similar among editors.

poppyseed said:

Is that an auto-reject? Is it gonna piss them off?

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I would doubt it.

-Suzanne

It's definitely not the best way to go about it, but they're not going to auto-reject you for it. Your story's really all that matters, providing you don't do something truly awful elsewhere.

I'm an editor.

What to put in a cover letter:

Dear [editor *1],

Please find attached my story [story title] for consideration for [magazine]. *2

I have had stories published in [magazine/anthology] and [magazine/anthology]. *3

Thank you for looking at my material.

Me

email address
snail mail address
telephone number *4

That’s all! Seriously, you don’t need anything else.

Notes:

1. Do use the editor’s name if you can find out what it is. Some magazines don’t list editors on their website, or have rotating editors (like ASIM, the magazine I'm with). In that case ‘dear editor/s’ will do.
2. Sometimes a magazine also wants you to list word count and subgenre. Make sure you check the guidelines.
3. Only list your two or three best and most recent credits. If you don’t have any credits at semipro level or better, don’t list anything. Don’t waffle about your day job and how much your grandmother enjoyed the story. This only makes you look insecure.
4. It’s probably a good idea to give the editor alternative ways of contacting you.

This is copied from a blog post about this subject. I talk a bit more about it here: http://pattyjansen.wordpress.com/2011/03/14/what-to-put-in-a-cover-letter/

alexshvartsman said:

Keep it super short, and to the point. Something like this:

Dear Mrs. (Editor's Name Here),

Please find enclosed for your consideration a 4000 word urban fantasy story "Title".

My previous sales were to Market #1, Market #2 and Market #3 (*). I graduated the ABC Workshop in 2010.

Sincerely,

Author.

--

(*) Don;t worry if you have no publishing credits. This shouldn't hurt you if the story's good. Most editors love discovering new talent. If you DO have a bunch of credits, do not list dozens of them. Choose your BEST 2-3 and list them - or if they are roughly equal, list the most recent.

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The words "please find" make some editors scream. The first reaction is, "Why, did you lose it somewhere in here?"

A cover letter is really a place for you to list your credits, or anything else relevant about your writing life. Most editors editors request cover letters because they want to know your publication history, such things as whether you have an MFA, anything that gives the editor a reason to read your story with high hopes.

If you have nothing relevant to say, no publication history, no MFA, no background in writing, no time at something like Clarion, then it doesn't matter what you say, and you shouldn't worry about it.

But trust me on this. The editor knows damned well you have a story in the envelope, or in the e-mail, and he certainly knows you want him to consider it for publication. The first page of that story should have all contact information, and the title of the story. It's generally pointless, and often irritating, to have same in the cover letter, unless there something else to go along with it.

But when there's nothing else to write, write that. It's very often what the cover letter doesn't say that tells the editor what to expect.

Here is mine. I can't seem to get the formatting quite right on this forum, though. The top section would be pushed over to the left. (Well, that's the way I write it. I suppose it could stay where it is here.)

I also realize the 'story' length is over what most consider a short story to be, but all my stories are submitted as 'short stories' regardless of length. The magazine refers to them as 'short stories.'

My Name
My Address
Town, State, Zip
Phone
Email



Editor’s Name
Address of Publisher, Magazine, etc.





March 19, 2007

Dear Ms. (Editor’s Name),

Please find enclosed my short story, “Title of Story,” which I am submitting for publication to your magazine. It is a mystery story set on Cape Cod and features a teenage protagonist, though the story is written for adults to read. It contains some 'darker elements' and a little bit of romance.

I hope this story meets with your approval and you consider publishing it in Alfred Hitchcock.

The story length is approximately 13,800 words.



Thank you,

(My hand-written signature)

My name, typed



(One more thing, if I am submitting to a magazine or publisher who 'doesn't know me,' I include a short paragraph of where I've been published before. But for my first submission, I didn't have any publishing history. I mentioned, however, that I spent summers on the Cape and was familiar with its history, geography and so on. They probably didn't care about any of that, only if they liked the story.)

Jamesaritchie said:

The words "please find" make some editors scream. The first reaction is, "Why, did you lose it somewhere in here?"

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Heh never thought about it that way, nor encountered any mention of this anywhere. Are there any articles/blogs you can point to, or are you speaking from personal experience?

I see jaksen is using the same wording, so at least I'm not committing some horrible and unnatural faux pas.

I've also used, "I have enclosed..." in place of "Please find..."

'Please find' is probably sort of old-fashioned, a leftover from the days when people wrote in a more florid style. That's where 'Very truly yours' and 'Sincerely yours' came from.

However, it works for me. Never had an editor complain.

alexshvartsman said:

Heh never thought about it that way, nor encountered any mention of this anywhere. Are there any articles/blogs you can point to, or are you speaking from personal experience?

I see jaksen is using the same wording, so at least I'm not committing some horrible and unnatural faux pas.

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I've read it in articles and blogs, but I can't remember where. It's mostly from personal experience, and from chatting with other editors.

It's not something to worry about, just something that makes many editors grump a bit, and that's completely pointless. Another way of saying you have nothing to say.

The most I've been paid for a short piece is $2500.00 The cover letter had little to do with the sale, I imagine, as it was formatted as a standard business letter, addressed to the editor-in-chief, and said simply:

Enclosed is a story for your consideration.

I signed the letter and included my contact info below my name.

What sold the piece was the story itself, in particular the first paragraph, which the editor later told me was one of the strongest she'd ever read. She also admitted that, in the three years she'd worked for the magazine, not a single unsolicited story had made it into the publication until mine came along.

The point is, your cover letter has nothing to do with whether or not your story will be published. If the editor likes your work, she'll contact you and ask questions that might pertain to your work and history, so there really isn't much need to include anything more in a cover letter than:

Here is my story. I've been pubbed in such-and-such (if any). And here is my contact info if you're interested.

Signed,

So-and-so

Honestly, I think people worry too much about cover letters. Though the only experience I could share was when I worked as an editor for my college's literary magazine. A good cover letter never improved an author's odds of being published, but a poor cover letter could ruin an author's chances.

A poor cover letter was one that tried to stand out and say, "Look at me! I'm witty and different." Whatever the author's intentions, it usually backfired, and left me with a bad taste in my mouth as I read the submission. (I recently read on this board that most editors read the submission first before the cover letter. I wish I had done that back then.)

A good cover letter is practically invisible. The only thing we needed from it was contact information. Other than that, we flipped it over and used the back of the cover letters to keep notes.

We routinely discard cover letters unread, because the submission process at our magazine is automated. The story has to speak for itself.

An MFA or similar isn't really a credit, since you haven't sold anything, and anyone can get in. Clarion is probably a better credit, because you have to audition to get in. But otherwise, still relatively irrelevant.

Again, the story has to speak for itself. If you try to speak too much for the story, you may diminish your chances by coming across as insecure, fragile, neurotic or otherwise.

I would never post my very first cover letter. It would get torn to shreds on this or any other forum. I don't remember the exact wording but I was arrogant on two accounts.

I said the story was good whether they liked it or not, or bought it or not. I also said it was very long but sorry, I couldn't write it any shorter.

Looking back at that, I cringe. I wasn't polite. I wasn't even nice.

But the story spoke for itself, I guess, as they bought it, it won an award and it was re-published in a 'best of' anthology.

However, if you've got nothing nice to say, just send the story with a brief letter which includes all the necessary, personal info.

Jaksen, this reminds me of a poem I published. The cover letter was rude - in fact, it annoyed me so much that I had to put the submission aside to read later. However, I did eventually read it, and the poem was brilliant.

What are some thoughts on putting something like this in a cover letter?

"I enjoyed reading [SHORT STORY/POEM TITLE] in the So-and-So edition..."

or

"I enjoyed reading [SOMETHING WRITTEN BY EDITOR]..."

I've heard some people say it's good to show that you actually read their publication, or as in the second example, personal flattery can work. Personally, I wonder if it runs the risk of sounding like ass-kissing.

What do you think?