Journals that encourage first-time authors

Nope!

should I deliberately specify in my cover letter that I am currently unpublished?

Why should you? And they'll guess anyway from your lack of CV and your presentation.

scheherazade said:

When sending a story to a journal with such strong support for first-time authors, should I deliberately specify in my cover letter that I am currently unpublished?

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Do these journals ask what they want included in the cover letter? Some journals ask for you to list previous publishing credits, some don't. If the journal specifically says they're looking to support first-time authors or asks for a list of previous credits, then a simple 'I have no previous publishing credits' or 'As of this submission I have not yet been published' is probably the way to go. If they don't specifically say or ask then it won't really matter whether you include it or not, and I would tend towards the not.

I'm not sure what your cover letter looks like. Mine (this is for an electronic sub, for a snail mail sub replace 'attached' with 'enclosed') generally looks something like the following unless other specifics are asked for:
___
Dear editor(s)

Please find attached my xxxx word story entitled _This is a title_.

Thank you for your consideration and I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely
Isaac Espriu
(my details)
___

I'm not quite sure what pdr means by 'lack of CV and presentation'. I'm guessing CV refers to previously published works, but I know a lot of magazines and journals prefer that a list of credits not be included with the cover letter (some editors don't even read cover letters). And when it comes to presentation, following Standard Manuscript Formatting rules is always the way to go unless the submission guidelines state differently.

I am with pdr here--do not include a statement that you are unpublished. The lack of credits in your cover letter will already tell the editor that, so stating it outright is redundant. And no matter what, even if a market is especially friendly to new writers, the writing itself must stand out. Your story will not be bought simply because you included a statement saying you were new.


Essentially there are three basic levels of cover letter:


1. Unpublished

Dear Awesome Editor's Name,

I have attached "My Cool Story", a 3400 word <genre> short, for your consideration. Thank you for your time.

Best wishes,
Me


2. Recently made a sale, but the sale has not yet been published

Dear Awesome Editor's Name,

I have attached "My Cool Story", a 3400 word <genre> short, for your consideration. My fiction is forthcoming in Super Nifty Magazine. Thank you for your time.

Best wishes,
Me


3. Reputable publishing credits exist

Dear Awesome Editor's Name,

I have attached "My Cool Story", a 3400 word <genre> short, for your consideration. My fiction has been published in Super Nifty Magazine, This Other Super Nifty Magazine, and Wow Another Nifty Magazine. Thank you for your time.

Best wishes,
Me


These are the basic templates which have served well me so far (with minor variations to the last one now since I have more than the three credits it is comfortable listing). A bit dry, but they have all the info an editor needs to know where you are at in your career.




-Michelle

scheherazade said:

When sending a story to a journal with such strong support for first-time authors, should I deliberately specify in my cover letter that I am currently unpublished?

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The guidelines for virtually every journal I've ever seen suggest the desirability of mentioning previous publishing credits. Which I can only take to mean, 1) those things mean something to the editors, and 2) if you don't mention any, they will take it as a clear indication that you have none, and act accordingly.

Now, some mags in fact do publish things by previously unpublished writers, so it isn't an opaque wall. Others . . . I'm not so sure. I can guarantee, however, that a story with Stuart Dybek or Cynthia Ozick as the author will get a much greater level of consideration for publication than a story by you or me, regardless of the merits of the actual story.

This is one of the two reasons I've more or less abandoned the idea of ever getting a short story published.

The second reason being that it's clear my short stories suck.

caw

drachin8 said:

These are the basic templates which have served well me so far (with minor variations to the last one now since I have more than the three credits it is comfortable listing). A bit dry, but they have all the info an editor needs to know where you are at in your career.

Click to expand...

These are pretty close to what I say in my cover letters. (Except I don't include length or genre.)

And unlike query letters, it doesn't matter if the style of the cover letter is dry. Its main purpose is just to say "Here's my story," along with any other necessary information: SASE included, reprint, rewrite request, etc.