I am in the process of submitting an article to a magazine whose specs say to send in the complete manuscript. Since a query letter is not needed, I assume I still need a cover letter introducing the piece. I'm guessing that in this case, however, I don't need to sell as hard as I would in a query letter . . . Do I need to mention my past publishing successes? Do I need to say anything about my background? They already have my piece . . . I'm wondering if all I need to do is tell them why I think it's a good fit for their magazine and that photos are available. Can you give me some guidance here? Thanks.
When no query is required
- Thread starter Umgowa
- Start date
In this situation I have sent my query as a cover letter. They still need to see why they should read it. I can't imagine they read every story they receive. They would also want to know past publishing credits.
I too have always send a standard query with the entire piece. I mention everything in the query, just like normal, just instead of "I propose" I end up with something like, "I submit."