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Faculty - 07/08
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Writing A Cover Letter
Writing A Query Letter
How to Write a Cover Letter
After deciding on a journal to which you want to send your creative work, the next step is writing a cover letter to accompany it. If you are sending your work by snail mail, be sure to include a self-addressed, stamped envelope, along with your cover letter and clean copies of your creative work. If sending your work electronically, the cover letter should be in the body of the email, and your creative work as a separate attachment.
15 May 2008
[your name]
[your CPO]
[Warren Wilson College
Asheville NC 28815-9000
Douglass Bourne, Nonfiction Editor [address the work to the editor of your genre—fiction, poetry, nonfiction]
Ecotone: Reimagining Place [do your homework; make sure your work would fit with the journal you’ve selected]
Creative Writing Department [addresses can usually be found on websites under “writer’s guidelines” or “submit”]
University of North Carolina Wilmington
601 South College Road
Wilmington, NC 28403-3297
University of North Carolina Wilmington
601 South College Road
Wilmington, NC 28403-3297
Dear Douglass Bourne: [always address an editor by his or her whole name, not just a first name]
Please consider the enclosed essay, “Laboring Toward a Sustainable World,” which looks at what it takes to support a life based on my experience as a blacksmith at Warren Wilson College. One of the few work colleges in the country, WWC offers students the chance to integrate traditional blue-collar or agricultural jobs with challenging academic courses. The resulting revelations can change a life, as I learned from a semester spent hammering steel blanks. [offer a clear, concise description of the work]
My work has been published in the school’s alumni magazine, Owl & Spade, in the literary journal, Peal, and as radio essays on the Swannanoa Journal. [include any prior publishing or editing experience, and/or name a professor with whom you’ve worked who might have a connection with the journal or the editor]
Thanks for your consideration; an SASE is enclosed for your reply. [SASE=self-addressed, stamped envelope, usually a #10.]
Sincerely,
[sign your name]
[type your name]