Short Story and Poetry Cover Letter Template

Sending stories and poems to publications often requires sending a cover letter. Here’s a template that has worked for me throughout the years. You may need to make updates based on individual publication guidelines, but this version requires the fewest for me.

You can copy the template or example below and save it as an email draft. Then simply replace the words between the brackets—quoted words within them are recommendations.

Subject line template

[“Short Story” / “Fiction” / “Poem” / “Poems”], [Title of Your Writing], [Last Name]

Body template

Hi [Editor Name or Publication “Editors”],

Please find my [“short story” / “story” / “flash fiction” / “poem” / “poems”], “[Title of Your Writing]” ([amount of words or lines of poetry]), [use “attached” for attaching your story versus “included” for pasting it into the email or submission manager tools].

[Your Name]’s writing has appeared in [Publication Title 1], [Publication Title 2], [Publication Title 3]. Find more of [your pronoun] at [website / primary social site].

Thank you for considering my [“story” / “poetry”].

[Your Name]

[Your phone number]

[Your email address]

Example

Fiction, The Heartbreak Hotel Gets Renovated, Dennin

Hi LuvLit Mag Editors,

Please find my short story, “The Heartbreak Hotel Gets Renovated” (1,222 words), attached for your consideration.

Sue Dennin’s writing has won the Heartache Story Award, and has appeared in publications such as Lovely Zine and Drama Digest. Find more of her work at www.suedennin.com.

Thank you for considering my story.

Sue Dennin

555-555-5555

suedennin@domain.com

Notes

1. When I save an email draft I tend to reuse, I typically add “TEMPLATE” to the start of the subject line, making the original easier to find and duplicate among other drafts.

2. The biography section should be

   1. written in the third person—this deviates from novel queries.

   2. dynamic. If you have several publications and awards, only list a few that fit with the magazine’s genre, ones their readers would appreciate.

   3. skipped if you have no publications, unless the place you’re sending to asks for personal details.

   4. brief, as the publication will ask for more information about you if they accept your piece and want extra details to share with readers.

3. When in doubt, write a shorter cover letter. The message bridges your story or poem to the editor. The longer you make that bridge, the more planks you need to set correctly, lest you risk the editor falling through before they can reach and fall in love with your piece.