A cover (or covering) letter is one that is sent with another document (or other enclosed items) to provide further information about that document or to direct the recipient's attention to particular aspects or items that he or she might find interesting. A simple cover letter might look like this:Outlandish Vacations
787 West 18th Street
Boothbay, Maine 77204-5406
(207) 963-7151 February 11, 2006 Ms. Angela Wu
101 Paul Revere Drive
Springfield, Massachusetts 01102-3989 Dear Ms. Wu: Thank you very much for requesting our Winter 2006/07 brochure, which we have enclosed along with this letter. Please note that the particular tour you inquired about no longer features in our program for 2006/07. We do, however, offer two alternative Nordic skiing expeditions to Sweden, where the skiing conditions and accommodation facilities are even better than they were in Norway, together with a brand-new Iceland tour, centered in the beautiful hot springs region and taking in trips to Iceland's two most active volcanoes. We are sure that you will find something in our brochure that meets your requirements and look forward to hearing from you again very soon. Sincerely yours, Sven Karlsson Sven Karlsson
Customer Service Manager
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Attachment (1) Outlandish Vacations Winter Wonderworld Brochure 2006/07 Personal cover letters can be more difficult to write, as you are providing further information about the sender—you. Let us imagine that you are sending a sample of your work to a magazine that will, you hope, publish it. Many novice writers find this a severe test. You expect, or at least you hope, that the quality of your writing will be what ultimately decides your success or failure in the writing business. You have, however, heard that publishers and editors receive hundreds of submissions, very few of which are accepted. You feel instinctively that a good cover letter will improve your work's chances of being read and taken seriously. Furthermore, you know that magazines—indeed, all publishers—want you to perform two difficult tasks at the same time: to produce work that suits their established readership and to be fresh, original, and excitingly new. You are also probably aware that most publishers prefer authors who are likely to be able to provide them with more than one contribution. This suits you fine—you would probably like nothing better than to become a regular contributor—but you have to write about yourself so that you appear as a credible writer for the long term. You have to sell yourself as well as your work, do it within the space of a single page, and avoid giving the impression that you are down on your knees begging the editor to give you a chance.437 Hobbes Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02116-4538
(103) 424-8883
jaypile@dod.com June 21, 2005 Ms. Robyn Robbins-Wilmot
Editor
June's Monthly
Arkansas Building
364 North Street
Chicago, Illinois 60637-2235 Dear Ms. Robbins-Wilmot: I am sending you a copy of my story "Netting Hearts" in hope that you will consider it for publication in June's Monthly magazine. My inspiration for this story came from two main sources. I have been very impressed by the stories written by Althea Ritchie that I have read in your magazine. I love her quirky characters and her humor. She showed me how to look at ordinary domestic life and see the flaky side of it. My second and more direct source is an account, given to me by a close friend, of a romantic encounter that began in an Internet chat room. I have changed the names of the people involved, obviously, and altered their characters, too, to some extent, but those real-life events form the basis of my plot. As for myself, I trained and worked for several years as a teacher. I am now at home looking after two small children. I have always wanted to write but have only recently managed to get myself organized sufficiently to be able to write regularly and seriously. This is the third story I have completed, and I am sure that it is the best. So, feeling confident, I have collected material for two more stories and begun a first draft of one of them. I hope very much that you will find time to read "Netting Hearts" and enjoy it. I would, needless to say, be very willing to make any changes to the text that would make it more suitable for the magazine. Thank you for your time, and I look forward to hearing from you. Sincerely yours, Jean Pile Jean Pile The writer of this letter manages quite skillfully to say many of the things that a magazine editor is likely to want to hear, and to imply a few more.The letter follows the standard pattern. A brief introductory paragraph sets out her purpose in writing. The two central paragraphs deal with the two essential issues in such a letter—the nature of the material submitted and the status of the person who is submitting it—and the fourth paragraph forms a conclusion. But note how the writer proceeds in the second paragraph. She does not say a great deal about her own story, in the sense that she does not seize on an aspect of the plot or characters and, as it were, dangle it in front of the editor in order to whet the editor's appetite. She realizes that her story will have to speak for itself, ultimately. Instead, she concentrates on the story's origins, which enables her to convey several ideas indirectly.First, she lets the editor know that she reads the magazine (and so has some idea of the type of material the editor will be looking for). Second, she indicates that she enjoys the magazine, but by singling out one (presumably regular) contributor whose work she really likes, she avoids having to write something like I always read your magazine from cover to cover and think the stories in it are so wonderful, which reads like undiscriminating gush. By suggesting that she partly models her own work on Angela Ritchie's, she reinforces the point that she knows what June's Monthly requires. Third, she writes about matters that are reasonably close to her own life and about people she knows (her friend). This is usually considered to be a sounder basis for successful fiction writing than choosing exotic characters and locations.In the third paragraph, the writer strengthens the impression that she is a level-headed person who is confident but not overconfident, and who has given some thought to the mechanics of pursuing a writing career. Finally, in her fourth paragraph, the writer suggests that she is willing to be guided by the editor. It is not usually a good idea to ask for advice or help from a person such as an editor or an agent (I know this story is not quite right yet and would be most grateful for any advice you could give toward improving it and making it more sellable). People in publishing are as busy as people in any other business and expect you to solve your own problems. On the other hand, however, it is generally worth indicating that you are not the sort of writer who regards every syllable and comma as sacred once it is written down, and that you would be willing to make changes, if necessary.
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