Thank you!!

I only used a few words to introduce my piece. For venues like Modern Love, I like to keep it short, something pithy, like the tag line for a movie if I can come up with something sexy. If I can’t, I’m happy to just present the basic facts. I’ll say, “This is a non-fiction story,” or maybe I’ll include the word count. Dan Jones doesn’t ask for anything specific in his cover letters, but if an editor asks for something specific—say the word count, your telephone number, or whatever—make sure to include it.

I like to close with a short pleasantry. Maybe I’ll say, “I hope you like it” because I really do hope the editor likes my story, even if she can’t select it for whatever reason. I always like to be professional, upbeat. When you get right down to it, the publishing world is actually kind of small.

After the little pleasantry line, I start a new paragraph and add a little bio in third person. “Tim Elhajj writes nonfiction. His work has appeared in The New York Times.” Before I had anything published, I would drop the name of any published author I had studied with, even if it was just for a day long workshop. Keep in mind, this is what I do right now, but I change things as the situation dictates or my mood changes.

Cover letters for pitches or books are a little different, but the cover letter I am describing here is the one I use the most, sort of the meat and potatoes cover letter for submitting nonfiction essays to literary magazines. I hope it helps. Good luck!

First of all, I keep visiting your site over and over! It’s a wonderful to hear about your writing.

You mentioned how your submitted your essay for ML and I just wondered if you included a short cover note in your email? Or did you just let your essay speak for itself?

I was poking around on your site and found your Zyzzyva piece, which I loved (even though I only got to see part of it). I keep trying to get one past Mr. Junker, but he’s a tough nut to crack. Maybe one day.

Best of luck with your Modern Love submission!