Cover Letter Basics

Why do I need to have a cover letter?

In short, cover letters serve as an introduction to yourself and your work. It is a standard practice in the literary world for all writers, and you will often be asked to send one when submitting to literary magazines, journals, and other publications. A successful cover letter should tell the editors who you are as a writer.

Who is reading my cover letter?

Everyone on the Palette team has access to your cover letter, but it is our readers and guest editors who will be the first one to encounter it. If your submission proceeds further in our reviewing process, your cover letter might also be read by the associate editor and editor in chief. So while you may address your cover letter to one person (i.e. the editor in chief or guest judge), we often find it more inclusive to address it to the entire team.

Some examples:

• “Dear Palette team…”
• “Dear editors…”
• “Dear [guest judge] and Palette…”

While “Dear” is a standard address, we aren’t opposed to other common and less formal greetings (i.e. “Hello,” “Hi editors,” or the occasional “Howdy!”). Don’t overthink it! Most of the time, we are skimming your cover letter for the important stuff, which will be covered in the next question.

What is in a cover letter?

For cover letters sent to Palette, here are the four things we are looking for:

1. Your name, or the name you write under
2. Your publication history (if any)
3. Any personal / identifying information you want us to know
4. The poem(s) included in your submission

Think of it as a brief author bio and what you would like posted on our site should your work be selected for publication. The key word here is brief. Keep your cover letter short and sweet! This is not the place to go deep into your personal history or info dump your poetry’s “lore.” Readers and editors don’t have time to wade through lengthy cover letters. Our priority is reviewing your writing—your cover letter comes second.

Here is an example of a cover letter meeting these criterias:

Dear Palette Poetry Editors,

Thank you for the opportunity to share my work with you. I’ve included three poems — “The Good Work,” “Perpetuity,” and “Asclepias” — for your consideration. I look forward to hearing from you!

Best,
Sarah

Bio: Sarah Horner is a writer from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her poetry and fiction are published in places such as Redivider, The Minnesota Review, Door Is A Jar, and Lunch Ticket. In her work, she acknowledges the complexities of desire, queer femininity, and our existence as beings with the intrinsic need to eat, play, touch, explore, and form companionships. She is a recipient of the 2024 Walter Nathan Prize for Undergraduate Creative Writers.

How is my cover letter useful?

At Palette, we don’t do “blind submissions” (a practice where the author’s identity is hidden during the reviewing and selection process). This is because the inclusion of your identity background can be informative to how we read your work. It’s undeniable that the publishing industry is historically (and still) biased towards cis hetero white writing, which means we all have to actively work towards expanding our perspectives and stay mindful of our implicit biases (including—and not limited to—perception, confirmation, and affinity bias). Knowing your identity and background can help us better understand your writing voice, who your audience is, and sometimes the narrative of your poems.

This is not to say you are required to share about your identity or that we are only looking for specific groups of people to publish—your work still must have merit and something new and exciting to offer. By not reading our submissions blindly, we hope to mitigate any dismissal of writing styles that fall outside of what is historically (and problematically) taught to be “good writing.” (To find out more about our anti-bias training and evaluation process, see our About page.)

When do I make updates to my cover letter?

You should update your cover letter every time you submit with a) an updated list of poems included, and/or b) when your publication history changes. If chosen for publication, we will also ask for your author bio again, so you can make any updates then.

Where can I send my cover letter?

All submissions to Palette are through Submittable. You will be prompted to provide your cover letter along with your submission there. Please do not email us your cover letter or poems. For more information on how to submit, visit our Submissions page.

Bonus: Cover Letter Red & Green Flags

Red flags:

• Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to write your cover letter. Not only is it against our policy, but it’s also impersonal and shows you aren’t putting in the effort to communicate with us through your own voice.
• Spelling and grammar errors. You won’t ever be penalized for simple spelling or grammatical mistakes, but please proofread before hitting ‘submit.’
• Misspelling names of or using the wrong address for others. Please do your research and make sure you are respecting another person’s name and pronouns!

Green flags:

• Providing your pronouns, if you are comfortable sharing. We want to make sure we are addressing you correctly!
• Clear and concise language. Write to communicate, not decorate. Overly flowery language and lengthy paragraphs can conceal the main information we seek from your cover letter.
• A brief thank you to our hardworking readers and editors! Gratitude is always appreciated.

We hope you find this introduction (or refresher) to writing cover letters useful! If you have more questions, you can email us at contact@palettepoetry.com.