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Young Writers Society


Writing a cover letter for flash fiction/short stories



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Sun Jul 18, 2010 2:13 pm
Bleusman says...



...as a high school student.

I've been sending out some of my work to publishers, but I've gotten scared away by the ones requesting cover letters. What am I supposed to write? Do they want me to summarize a 500 word story for them? The only one I've tried to write was for a 1400 word story, and even that came off as sounding pretentious and grasping. And then there comes the biography part: erm, I'm unpublished and I'm a high school student who hasn't really done much that's fascinating - what do I write for that which wouldn't make publishers immediately think less of my work?

Any tips? I see most people here, if they've published, are novelists, but I wonder if anyone's been in the same conundrum I'm in.
  





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Sun Jul 18, 2010 2:59 pm
Kale says...



Oftentimes, you don't need to include a cover letter. The main purpose of a cover letter is to establish your credence. If you've been published elsewhere/been involved in a respected workshop/studied under a respected author/etc., mention it. If not, however, cover letters are usually optional, and it only hurts you to mention things that work against you (such as being unpublished). Summarizing a short story/piece of flash fiction is also generally frowned upon since, unlike a novel, it is assumed that the editor will read the story through. Also, the shorter your cover letter is, the more likely it is to be read, and including a summary just increases the length.

Basically, if you can't write anything that won't give off a bad impression, it's best not to write a cover letter at all.

On another note, most publishers provide cover letter guidelines, especially if they are web-based. Take a look or query to see what they're looking for in a cover letter. Querying can also leave a good impression with the publisher since it shows that you're interested in doing things right, and that you're probably serious about writing and/or being published.
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Sun Jul 18, 2010 3:04 pm
Emerson says...



Ky was spot on, but I'd also like to ask if you know whether these publishers accept short stories or not? Are they literary journals and the like? I only ask because most publishing companies, as far as I'm aware, don't accept the stray short story. They publish anthologies, but only if you're a well established author already. But if you're looking to publish in a journal or magazine, then you're going to the right place! Even if they don't get read too much, they're the only place (like I said, as far as I am aware!) that accepts short stories.
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Sun Jul 18, 2010 7:20 pm
Bleusman says...



Yes, I'm submitting to journals and magazines. However, a lot of them, such as every single journal that uses Submishmash for submissions requires a cover letter. It's nice to hear what not to write, but I'm really at a loss what I'm supposed to write when writing something is required.
  





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Mon Jul 19, 2010 12:33 am
Kale says...



If you really have nothing to say, then simply thank the editor for taking the time to read and consider your story.
Secretly a Kyllorac, sometimes a Murtle.
There are no chickens in Hyrule.
Princessence: A LMS Project
WRFF | KotGR
  








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