How to Write a Cover Letter For a Literary Magazine Submission: Tips For Entering the Literary Magazine Market

For a new freelance writer, breaking into the literary magazine market often appears difficult, but freelancers write and submit articles to literary magazines regularly and receive various levels of financial remuneration for them.

Learning how to write a cover letter for a literary magazine submission is important if you expect to have your work published, or more importantly, purchased by a magazine publisher.

A clear, concise, informative cover letter will increase the likelihood of attracting the attention of a publisher. Your cover letter for a literary submission serves a dual purpose. First, it introduces you as a freelance writer to your prospective publisher. Secondly, it serves as an introduction to the magazine submission that you are marketing.

Begin by addressing your cover letter appropriately, so that it will go to the right person. State your name, address, etc. Make certain that you include the date.

In the second part or body of your cover letter, specify your academic qualifications, training, writing skills and experience, as well as specific accomplishments in freelance writing, or other areas of interest that may appeal to your publisher, like expertise in certain areas. For instance, are you an accomplished photographer?

Doing research about a publisher and magazine ahead of time will reveal the genre, as well as the criterion and quality of submissions that a literary magazine publisher is seeking. For instance, the genre may be poetry, flash fiction or other short stories, author biographies or book reviews, criticism of other articles, etc. 

Perhaps the length of submissions requested is under 1000 words and the publisher is seeking only high quality submissions. State briefly why you think your submission is appropriate for the proposed magazine.  

The third part of your cover letter should consist of condensed content regarding your proposed, literary submission. Include information about the genre, the title of your submission, the date, dates of revisions and the name under which you seek publication, (if you use a pen name). Include a number that identifies your article for cataloguing purposes. 

Regarding payment, clarify your expectations re pricing and the pay period, as well as anticipated royalties, private label rights or full rights. Request further clarification if you are uncertain about these.

Note that for online literary magazines, your cover letter should contain search engine optimization (SEO) criteria with key words and phrases pertinent to the literary magazine.  The rest of your resume should accurately explain or expand upon what you have stated in your cover letter.  

In closing, state your contact information, telephone number and e-mail address and the appropriate time to contact you. Always be respectful and remember to thank your potential publisher for taking the time to consider your submission for publication.

When submitting a cover letter as a freelance writer, be optimistic, knowing that professionally written, motivational, freelance articles do sell. Your well-written, informative cover letter will lead to increased sales.