How to Write a Poetry Cover Letter (That Editors Actually Like)
This article is for: Beginning and Intermediate Poets
What on earth are you supposed to say to an editor?
You've polished your poems, you've found a journal you love, and you're ready to submit. Then the submission form asks for a "cover letter"—and suddenly you freeze.
What do you write? How much? Do you explain the poems? Do you list your achievements? Do you have any achievements?
This little box can cause more anxiety than almost anything else in the submission process—and it really, really shouldn't.
So let's clear it up once and for all.
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First, the good news: the cover letter barely matters
Here's the single most important thing to understand, and it should take a load off your shoulders straight away:
Your cover letter will almost never get your poems accepted. The poems do that.
Editors are reading for the work. A brilliant cover letter attached to weak poems gets you nowhere, and a one-line cover letter attached to wonderful poems gets you published. The letter is not the audition—the poems are the audition.
So why bother at all? Because while a good cover letter can't get you in, a bad one can occasionally trip you up—by annoying the editor, by making you look like you haven't read their journal, or by drawing attention away from the poems themselves.
In other words: the goal of a cover letter is simply to be polite, professional, and out of the way. Get that, and you've already beaten half the slush pile.
What actually goes in a poetry cover letter
Strip away the worry and the whole thing comes down to a handful of pieces:
A greeting (to the editor by name, if you can find it)
The titles of the poems you're submitting
A short third-person bio—about 3-5 sentences
Your personal connection with the publication, if relevant
A thank-you and sign-off.
That's it. No explaining the poems. No justifying them. No life story. Notice how short that list is—because brevity is the whole game here.
Let me show you the difference between getting this wrong and getting it right.
A cover letter that tries far too hard
Here's the kind of letter you may tempted to write when you're nervous:
Dear Sirs/Madams,
Please find attached three poems for your consideration. I've been writing poetry since I was a child and it has always been my greatest passion, though I've never had the confidence to submit anywhere before, so I apologize if these aren't good enough for your wonderful magazine. The first poem, "Mother," is about my mother and the complicated relationship we had before she passed, and the imagery of the broken clock is meant to symbolize how time stopped for me that day. The second poem is experimental and may not be to your taste. I would be so incredibly grateful if you would consider publishing even one of them, as it would mean the world to me.
Yours hopefully, A. Poet
I have a lot of sympathy for this letter—we've all felt every emotion in it! But look at everything it's doing wrong:
It apologizes. Never tell an editor your work might not be good enough; you're asking them to reject you before they've read a line.
It explains the poems. If "Mother" needs a paragraph telling the editor what the broken clock means, then the poem isn't doing that job—and a cover letter can't fix it. Let the poem speak.
It pre-judges their taste ("may not be to your taste"). Let the editor decide!
It begs. Gratitude is lovely, but desperation makes an editor uncomfortable.
"Dear Sirs/Madams" tells the editor you didn't look up who they are.
Every one of these comes from anxiety—and every one of them quietly works against you.
A cover letter that gets it right
Now here's the same submission, done well:
Dear Ms. Okafor,
Thank you for considering the three poems below—"Mother," "Field Recording," and "What the Tide Left." I've admired The Riverbank Review since your folklore issue last spring, and I hope these might suit you.
I'm a poet based in Cardiff. My work has previously appeared in Smalltown Quarterly and The Lamppost.
This is a simultaneous submission; I'll let you know right away if the poems are accepted elsewhere.
Thank you for your time and for the work you do.
Best wishes, Alys Pritchard
See how much calmer that feels? It's short, it's warm, it's confident, and it gets out of the way so the poems can do their work. That's the whole art of it.
And notice—you don't need a long list of publications to sound like this. Confidence here isn't about your CV; it's about your tone.
Going through the letter piece by piece
The greeting
Use the editor's name if you possibly can. Check the journal's Masthead or "About" section. Addressing the poetry editor by name shows you've actually looked at the magazine—which is exactly the impression you want to give.
If you genuinely can't find a name, "Dear Editors" is perfectly fine. Just never "To Whom It May Concern"—it sounds like a parking fine.
It’s also important to get the gender of the address right—don’t assume someone goes by he/him or she/her pronouns based on their name. Look for a bio of the editor and see what pronouns are used in that. If you’re not sure, just use the editor’s full name (“Dear James Mohlberg”.
Listing the poems
Simply name the poems you're submitting—in quotation marks or a bulleted list. This helps the editor keep track, especially if your poems and your cover letter arrive as separate files.
That's all this part needs to do. Resist every urge to add what the poems are "about."
The bio
Keep it to two to five sentences, in the third person, as it would appear in the magazine. Mention two or three places you've been published, if you have them.
And if you haven't been published yet? Then don't mention it at all—simply say something true and human instead: where you're based, what you do, a line of interest. "Marek is a nurse and poet living in Leeds" is a perfectly good bio. Everyone was unpublished once, and no editor holds it against you. (If you're brand new to all this, by the way, I've written a whole article on why beginners absolutely should submit.)
The personal touch (optional, but powerful)
If you've honestly read and enjoyed the journal, say so in one specific sentence. Not flattery—specifics. "I loved the translation feature in your winter issue" shows you're a real reader, not someone blasting the same letter to two hundred magazines. Or comment on a poem that you’ve appreciated.
But only do this if it's true. Editors can smell generic praise instantly, and faking it is worse than saying nothing.
Simultaneous submissions
If you're sending the same poems to more than one journal at once—which is normal and sensible—check the journal's guidelines first. Most allow it; some don't.
If they do allow it, add one short line saying so, and promise to notify them immediately if the poems are taken elsewhere. This reassure editors that you know how to follow the basic rules of poetry courtesy.
Then—crucially—actually do let them know if a poem is accepted by someone else! And do it as soon as possible.
The sign-off
A simple thank-you and a "Best wishes" or "Kind regards" is all you need. You're a fellow human being doing them the courtesy of professionalism—nothing more is required.
The mistakes to avoid (a quick checklist)
Before you hit submit, make sure you're not:
Apologizing for your work, or for submitting at all.
Explaining what the poems mean. The poems handle that.
Over-sharing—your whole writing history, your hopes, your nerves.
Flattering generically ("your prestigious magazine").
Ignoring the guidelines—every journal has them, and they vary.
Writing a different letter each time from scratch. Keep a template (see Next Steps!) and tweak the name and the personal line.
Get past those six, and your cover letter is doing its job.
A last word on tone
The deepest mistake behind most poor cover letters is treating the editor as a gatekeeper to be begged, rather than a fellow reader you're sharing work with.
You're not asking for a favor. You're offering them something—poems they might love and want to publish. That's a generous act, not a humble one. When you write from that footing—warm, brief, unapologetic—your cover letter takes care of itself, and you can put all your energy where it belongs: into the poems.
Next Steps
Write yourself a reusable template. Draft a cover letter for an imaginary submission, including a greeting, a slot for poem titles, your two-line bio, and a sign-off. Leave blanks like [Editor name] and [personal line] to fill in each time.
Write your bio now, while you're not under pressure. Between 2 and 5 third-person sentences. If you have publications, name two or three; if not, say something true and human about yourself.
Find a journal you genuinely admire and look up the poetry editor's name and submission guidelines. (Need somewhere to start? Try my ranking of top American poetry journals.)
Drop your details into the template, add one honest, specific sentence about that journal, and read the whole thing back. Does it sound calm, brief, and confident? If so—it's ready, and so are you. Hit submit!
And remember: the moment that cover letter is sent, you can forget all about it—because it was never the thing being judged. Your poems were. So go and make those as good as they can be.
