Young Writers Society

...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 And then there comes the biography part: erm, I'm unpublished and I'm a high school student who hasn't really done much that's fascinating - what do I write for that which wouldn't make publishers immediately think less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.

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cover letters are usually optional, and it only hurts you to mention things that work against you (such as being unpublished).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.

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.

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.

If you really have nothing to say, then simply thank the editor for taking the time to read and consider your story.