It’s been a couple years since I wrote about what a cover letter should look like, and it was definitely before we launched recompose.
Three hundred odd submissions later, I asked Leslie J. Anderson, one of the editors of recompose, what she would like to see in a cover letter.
“It’s a lot more boring than people think,” she said. While the cover letter I posted years ago was also from her, she pointed out that was her cover letter for a book, and that she uses something slightly different for magazines. Here’s her template:
Hello,
Thank you for the chance to submit my work to Magazine. The story [poem] I included is Story or Poem Title. It is XXX words [or XX lines].
My writing has appeared in Other Magazines. My other writing accomplishments include Stuff.
I look forward to hearing from you soon!
Best,
Name
It’s simple, to the point, but gets all the pertinent information right out there where the editor needs it. An excellent template indeed.
#SFWAPRO