* Tip #1: Address the cover letter to the journal’s editor by name: Dear Katie Manning. Dear Dudley Randall. Choose either the editor-in-chief or the specific genre editor at the magazine, or both. Even if you are using an online format, such as Submittable, do not omit traditional courtesies.
* Tip #2: As an editor, I sometimes received cover letters addressed to Speer Morgan, editor of The Missouri Review, or Sven Birkerts, editor of Agni, among others. I know those fellows, but I am neither of them. Such errors told me that I was just part of a mass-market submission. I gleefully dismissed those manuscripts. Get the name of the editor right.
I start a cover letter by stating what it is I am submitting, such as four poems, but without naming each poem; if prose, identify the genre and the title, e.g., an essay called “Jazz at the Chicken Shack.” If there is something noteworthy about your submission, mention that—such as, This essay contains a never-before-seen interview with Art Tatum. Or, These poems are translations of young Ukrainian poets in exile. I start a query letter for a nonfiction article with some quick fact that might hook the editor, then soon make my pitch to submit an article about the event or subject. That applies mostly to commercial writing. Creative journals want to see the piece, itself.
* Tip #3. I never mention word count in my cover letters. Couldn’t care less.
* Tip #4. Mention something you read and admired recently in the journal, whether or not it relates to your submission. This will not, in itself, lead to acceptance, but the editor will be more mindful and attentive toward you and your sweet little tales.
A shortish bio should follow. No matter how little or much you have accomplished as a writer, hit the highlights. This, too, will not determine acceptance of your work—as an editor, I rejected, with reluctance, National Book Award winners and others of prominence—however, editors like to know with whom they are dealing and spending their time. Are you a human being? That’s all they ask.
* Keep the letter natural to your voice but professional.
* Keep the letter to one page. Write well. Check your spelling.
—Robert Stewart (1-24-25)
