A superb insight into the world of short story cover letters!
As an editor I see a lot of bad cover letters. I can’t help but think folks are following some bad advice out there, so I wrote a thing that might help. It’s long and it’s a little ranty and cranky (because I’ve seen a lot of bad cover letters in the last month), but I hope it will also be helpful.
Note that this advice is specific to genre magazines and anthologies and short fiction. Novel submissions play by a different set of rules, and there may be a slightly different etiquette in literary submissions and other genres. But, if you write and submit science fiction, fantasy, and horror short stories, the following essay is for you.
How to Write a Proper Short Story Cover Letter
The most important fact to remember about cover letters is this: the best cover letter in the world is not really going to…
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[…] to keep it short!–but the detailed review of cover letter mistakes is helpful, too. Thanks to Richie Billing for bringing this to my […]
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Thanks for sharing this! 😀
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Glad I could be of service good sir
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You know I recently sent off another short story, with a cover letter, so this is rather good timing. Thank you for sharing.
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I have to admit I’ve been including one sentence summaries of my stories with every cover letter for at least three years. This author is right, I did it because that’s what novel queries do. I’ll stop and we’ll see what happens.
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Same here! It makes sense but all markets are different. A useful insight! Thanks for reading and commenting!
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I think in my most recent submission I included a summary because it really fit with the market, as in that market specializes in stories with psychological suspense, and this story was perfect for them. I didn’t think it was necessary, but I didn’t see why I wouldn’t include it, as in I didn’t think it would irritate editors.
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