How to Write a Cover Letter for Submitting Short Fiction to Magazines

A few days ago, I got my first short story acceptance from Clarkesworld Magazine!

I’ve been submitting my work to Clarkesworld for almost five years now, and I’ve only received form rejections up until now. At this point, I could probably recite the Clarkesworld form rejection by heart (which would be a very boring party trick).

One fun thing about submitting so many stories to the same market is that I get to watch my cover letters change over the years. It’s like each cover letter is a little snapshot in time, showing how my writing journey has progressed since the last submission.

So today, I figured this would be the perfect time to talk a bit about short fiction submissions and what some of my cover letters have looked like.

What Is a Short Fiction Cover Letter?

When you submit a short story to a magazine, you’re supposed to include a brief cover letter along with your manuscript.

Some magazines have specific guidelines, but in general, your cover letter should provide basic information about your submission:

• The title of your story
• The genre of your story
• The word count of your story (rounded to the nearest 100)
• Any writing credentials you have, such as awards or publications
• Any personal connection you have to the story, if you feel comfortable sharing it (for example, if your story is about Mesopotamian pottery and you have a PhD in ancient Mesopotamia, mention that!)

Don’t let the term “cover letter” scare you. It’s not like a job cover letter, where you have to present yourself as the best candidate for the role. Magazine editors judge your submission based on the strength of the story, not on the strength of your cover letter, so it’s more about conveying key information than about being persuasive.

Three Examples of Short Fiction Cover Letters

Today I’m sharing three cover letter examples from throughout my writing journey, to show you what they looked like when I was just starting out versus what they look like now.

A cover letter from 2019:

Dear Neil Clarke and editors of Clarkesworld,

Please consider my short story “[Story Title]” ([genre], [X] words).

I’m a longtime reader of Clarkesworld and would be honored to have my work published here. Thank you so much for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

Hannah Yang

Back in 2019, I had no publications yet—this was actually the first story I’d ever submitted anywhere. You can see that from the fact that the cover letter contains nothing except basic story information.

A lot of writers are scared to start submitting if they have no writing credentials—I definitely was—but everyone starts somewhere. I sent out dozens of cover letters very similar to this one before one of them landed me my first publication.

A cover letter from 2021:

Dear Neil Clarke and editors of Clarkesworld,

Please consider my short story “[Story Title]” ([genre], [X] words).

I’m a longtime reader of Clarkesworld and would be honored to have my work published here. My work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Dark, Daily Science Fiction, and TulipTree Review.

Thank you so much for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

Hannah Yang

By 2021, I’d had three stories accepted at other magazines, so I finally had some publication experience to include in the cover letter. Most of those stories hadn’t actually come out yet, which is why I used the phrase “appeared or is forthcoming in” instead of simply “appeared in.”

My cover letter from 2023:

Dear Neil Clarke and editors of Clarkesworld,

Please consider my short story “[Story Title]” ([genre], [X] words).

My work has been published or is forthcoming in Apex, Analog, The Dark, and several Years Best anthologies. Two of my stories are 2023 Locus Awards finalists, and two others are Notable Stories in BASFF 2023.

Thank you for your consideration!

Best,

Hannah Yang

For my most recent submission, I was fortunate enough to have even more credentials to mention, so I tried to prioritize the strongest ones. Try to keep the cover letter as concise as possible, so editors can read it at a glance.

Regardless of where you are in your journey, keep submitting your short fiction to magazines! Success in this industry often comes down to luck as much as it does skill, so it’s all about persevering until you break into the market.

I hope this article was helpful—let me know if you want to see more articles about the short fiction submission process. Good luck, and happy writing!

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I’m Hannah Yang, and I’m a full-time author. I use my blog to share writing craft tips, my writing process, or my journey to publication. Share this article if it resonated with you, and subscribe if you want to see more!