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[Anonymous No.883647]

Hey /lit/

I am trying to gauge how most people's electronic submissions are handled.

I was wondering what your normal submission email looks like. Do you bother with a cover letter? Do you say hello to the editors? Do you simply list a bio? Do you use a form letter? Most importantly, do you simply freehand your submissions based on the publication you're sending it to? Do you keep multiple bio's for different flavors of publication? Do you bother to inform editors that pieces are simultaneous submissions?

In an attached document, do you bother with cover letters? Do you provide your contact information on every page?

[Anonymous No.883663]

not trolling, but most of these fags in /lit/ don't write. they just consume.

[Anonymous No.883680]

>>883663
>implying everyone on /lit/ is not a failing writer.

troll

[Anonymous No.883691]

>>883680

then why don't you tell the guy what your standard sub format looks like?

anyway, no I don't bother with cover letters. I usually say hello, thank them for their time, and paste in my bio. then add the poems or stories in an attachment (unless they don't accept .doc)

[Anonymous No.883694]

Can't say I've checked as I have yet to write anything I feel confident enough in to let other people read, but in the event I was going to send something to a company, I would READ THEIR SUBMISSION GUIDELINES, AND THEN DO THAT.

[Anonymous No.883701]

>>883645
Can't say I've checked as I have yet to write anything I feel confident enough in to let other people read, but in the event I was going to send something to a company, I would READ THEIR SUBMISSION GUIDELINES, AND THEN DO THAT.
wｗ W.A NＯ n[ＩｇnｏRｅtHＩSｈｅRE]ｔａ_LＫ .Sｅ
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[Anonymous No.883697]

>>883663>implying everyone on /lit/ is not a failing writer.troll
ｗｗ ｗ.ａ ＮO_Ｎ[IＧnorＥＴHｉＳｈｅＲE]Ｔａ_ｌk_.ｓE
ncvd o ewhdeoridf hzqgq eknwv dwd x

[Anonymous No.883707]

>>883680
Also, OP, if I'm submitting to a literary journal or review that has an online submissions manager, I do not include any of that bullshit. Online submission managers require you to create an account where you include basic information. That basic information is really all you need. I never include any other information unless it's relevant (most journals don't give a shit about where you got your degree from, whether or not you have a Creative Writing M.A. Although, most journals ask you to specify whether your submission is a simultaneous submission).

Disregard everything I just said if you are mailing your submissions.

[Anonymous No.883714]

>>883694

That's nice. You admit you aren't published and then make a snarky reply to my question that was over your head. See, everything I asked in the original post is the kind of question people have after already being used to submission guidelines. Once you have been getting acceptances and rejections from journals for a while, you start to wonder what other people's standard submission looks like. It's actually interesting to see how different people handle it.

The other reason I'm curious is that as an editor of a litmag, I see tons of different styles in submissions. I get subs from people who don't bother to say hi, don't have a bio, and just paste their work in an email. I see long, drawn out thank you's for time and consideration followed by a paragraph long biography and publication credits. It's interesting.

I don't think you have anything to add here. Go away.

[Anonymous No.883717]

>>883694
Also, this in regards to just follow the submission guidelines. That's usually a good thing to read before you submit.

[Anonymous No.883738]

>>883714
Wow, u mad at all?

[Anonymous No.883739]

>>883714
My creative writing professor's suggestion for a cover letter:

Dear (Editor's Name),

Thank you for considering the following poems/short story.

Sincerely,
(Your Name)

Unless you have been published before, that's all you need to say. If you have been published, then the body of the cover letter should look like this:

Thank you for considering the following poems/short story. My work has appeared in (list of magazines and journals your work has appeared in).


Again, this is just what my creative writing professor told me.

[Anonymous No.883772]

>>883739

Okay. That looks pretty standard. I'm trying to decide whether laundry lists of publications look as trashy to everyone else as they do to me, and how most people handle it.

There is a big backlash against "laundry list bio's" and it's becoming very common to see them mentioned as Things Not To Do in guidelines. I think there has been a lot of negative light cast on them because there seems to be (judging from speaking to editors and reading behind-the-scenes litmag discussions) an attitude that the more prolific a writer is, the worse his or her submissions can be in general. What I mean is, I have noticed subpar submissions from e-famous writers who send b-material and get it accepted by smaller presses anyways because of their notoriety. I feel almost the same way about publication credits. I am typing a lot.

Oh, and here's the obvious question, followed by my answer just to save time.

Why am I writing this all here if I could ask other editors?

I'm embarrassed and don't really want to ask the people who have been around longer than me.

[Anonymous No.883786]

>>883772

I was once a poetry editor for a lit mag, and the laundry list of other publication is kind of annoying (one submission put in a slip of paper that had all his previous publications along with his cover letter and MS).

I would just put a few of the prestigious (or any) ones, but limit it to five publications...

You should ask editors, when they're not busy. Just go to a writing convention or a reading and talk to some people.

[Anonymous No.883800]

My submissions look like this:

Editor(s)

Thank you in advance for your time and consideration. Enclosed are X pieces, titled 'x, x, & x.' Below is my current bio.

<Bio>
<X, X, & X>
<Signature>
<Attachment>

P.S. Yeah, publication credits are tacky.

[Anonymous No.883845]

Woah, that's pretty cool. It looks like the new spam things from that gay ass spammer chan are starting to use a dynamic system that takes text from other posts in /lit/ and reuses it, alongside a randomization text script. I guess it's so that they screw up your ctrl+F stuff too.

Not related, sorry, but it's just the first time I've seen that. I'll sage for that though.

[None !UyhAEqbnp. No.883868]

>>883845
the raptors are getting smarter

[Anonymous No.883888]

>>883868
We're okay, unless raptors have figured out how to open doors now!

[None !UyhAEqbnp. No.883897]

>>883888
too late, the sagetroll figured out how to sage in threads a long time back