Rejection by Cover Letter

The cover letter is one of the least understood and least appreciated tools in the writer’s toolbox. It introduces your work to the editor. 

Think of your work as the introduction of humanity to a powerful alien race. If it is done well, humanity lives. Done poorly, bye bye your mother et all. Smile if you will, but understand both your ego and your wallet will thank you for doing this.

A Cover Letter should include (in this order):

1) Proper Genre

Devote a paragraph or two showing how your manuscript fits the genre of the publication. If you have written a romance gently elaborate on the love between the main characters. You need to show how your work is in every way a well-crafted love story. Do not get carried away with this step. You do not need a novel to introduce a novel nor a poem to preface a poem.

2) A Short Philosophy of Your Writing Style

This is a challenge to do well. It has nothing to do with the work you are trying to promote and everything to do with you as a writer. What is the theme you are promoting? For example, the theme I send as part of my cover letters is the theme I express on my blog page: “I enjoy writing stories that bend your mind. I think most people have a deviant bent and that personality quirk needs to be stimulated and encouraged.  I like dragons who devour both the knight and his horse.” It takes time and some effort to find your theme but it is an exercise every writer should do.

3) A Short (Really Short) Autobiography of you as a writer.

This is a short paragraph or two about what you have accomplished as a writer. What and where you have published. Why you started writing. You can also, with a degree of humor, state you have more than fifty rejection slips. Even the bumps you encounter in your career can be discussed in a positive and humorous style. This is the least important part of your letter and unless it is asked for don’t include it.

A Guarantee of Rejection

1) I am a great writer.

We know we are good writers. Even though we get rejected that knowledge spurs us on to continue writing. It is difficult to understand why certain editors and publishers cannot see our greatness. As great authors, we have a moral obligation to show them the errors they are festering under. What better way to tell them than within the cover letter.  DON’T! If you are truly great, or even ready to be published, you will be noticed. It takes time, effort, and talent. Always remember the mantra of most successful writers: Self Praise Stinks. 

 2) Editors and editing, both are without value.

It is the bane of most writers to blame the editor when their manuscript is culled. You, as the writer, has every right, nay obligation, to bring the crassness and worthlessness of what they do to their attention. Like it or not, the value of the red pen is beyond dispute. The problem is you will attempt to pass off these errors as literary license.  Absolutely not true. It is
sloppy work on your part. Just because the editor doesn’t discuss your failings with you does not mean he is wrong. You should know enough to do your own editing. Some of you will hire another to do the onerous task for you. Sorry, you get what you pay for, and most “editors” who will soak you for a few hundred bucks probably have your skill level or less. They merely have tools you are too lazy to find yourself. Remember, your work is yours alone. It is not the spawn of some hack. So, do your own editing and do it well, including the cover letter.