One of the things we get asked about a lot as editors is cover letters for journal submissions. What should go in a cover letter, and do you really need one? Believe it or not, cover letters are helpful to us.

I'll say this right off the bat, though: a weak cover letter (or lack thereof) will not keep a strong submission out of the magazine, and a strong cover letter will not get a weak submission in, no matter how many top-notch publications the author lists or who they name check. So stop freaking out.

There are still good reasons for including a cover letter, and as editors there are things we look for in the cover letters when making decisions about what to print. So, what are we looking for in your cover letters?

As when you are applying for college or (heaven forbid) a real job, the cover letter is a way to quickly introduce yourself to the people making the decisions (Hi, my name is Mark, and I make decisions). We like to know who you are, what your background as a writer is, and where you are at in your career. If we like your work, we'll probably be corresponding with you, and besides giving us an address (electronic or otherwise) to reach you, a cover letter gives a sense of who we'll be working with.

I'm a little embarrassed by this next part: it kind of impresses us when your letter is addressed to the appropriate editor. At a magazine like ours, with a rotating staff, it's hard for submitters to know from year to year who a particular genre editor is, but we notice when you've taken a little time to research our particular magazine. I know it sounds conceited, but it signals you as someone who's done their homework.

Consider this fake example:

Dear So-and-So,

Please consider my story "Strong Bad and the Search for the Yello-Dello" for publication in your magazine. I may submit this story to other journals, but I will inform you immediately if it is accepted elswhere.

Telling us the name of the work helps us keep track of the submission. Generally we log all submissions and staple cover letters to their stories, but if something goes wrong, it's nice to have a hard copy of who submitted what.

Informing us that this is a simultaneous submission is one of the most important things a cover letter can do. We have a very tight production schedule, and knowing that we have to move on a particluar submission to keep it out of someone else's magazine helps us figure out a timeline.

If you would like to tell us something about the work, explain a certain detail, or give us a brief introduction, go ahead. If your story or essay is about firefighters in Malaysia and you've been a firefighter in Malaysia, we like to know those things. If your doing something weird or metafictional, we'd like to know that the blank page 12 is supposed to be blank. We can figure it out on our own, but it's nice to hear it from the author.

One mistake young authors make is to try to argue for or talk up a work. Don't tell us how exciting or profound you think your work is. We're smart, we'll get that Janice is really a symbol for the plight of the small-town skydiver. We'll get that the ending is the perfect culmination of the various tensions and dangers in little Johnny's world, propelling the reader to the heights of epiphanic discovery. Let the work speak to these things. If they're there, we'll probably catch them.

Where'd you go to school, and where do you work now? I said in a previous post that it doesn't really matter if you have an MFA or not, or if you are curently teaching creative writing at some big program, but we do like to know who you are. And hey, maybe you're an alpaca farmer. Or maybe like a certain Mr. Abramson, you're a real-life lawyer. Oh, or an emu rancher. That's nice to know . I'd like to hear about that.

Lastly, a lot of people ask about listing prior publications. First of all, if you have previous publications, that's great, but if you don't, you shouldn't feel embarrassed saying that this will be your first publication, or saying nothing on the subject at all. We like finding new writers and giving them their first pub credit just as much as we like working with veterans of the lit journal scene (such as it is).

Don't lie about where you've been published. That just makes the editorial assistants feel dirty.

Generally, your three or four most recent publications will suffice. Beyond that, you are really just inundating us with journal names, most of which seem to be named after archaic musical instruments these days. It may also be effective to list names of journals that you think are comparable to our tastes. We talk about other journals we like, so if you've been in BWR, for instance, color us impressed. You could also just tell us the most well-known places your work has appeared. This will give us a sense of where you are at in your writing career, and whether you have experience with things like signing contracts and approving galleys.

Some writers include their bio blurb. This is helpful, but if the rest of the letter includes that information, it's unecessary to restate it in blurb form. We'll be in contact with you if we want to run your piece, and that's when we'll get your contributor info. We won't forget.

This is obviously not going to answer every question, so please, feel free to email us, or use the comments pages. We'd love to answer any question you migh have.

P.S. If you have special mailing instructions, if you're using an IRC coupon (sic) or if you'd like your manuscript returned, the cover letter is a good place to let us know that, as well.