Rough Guide to Submitting Poetry to Literary Journals (by Email)

First thing you need is your poems, naturally; these must be fully redrafted to your satisfaction to have much of a chance of getting anywhere in the world of self-respecting mags. Try out some workshops (there are a tonne on the internet, and plenty in the real world too), ask your friends, but most of all just mull them over for yourself until you're happy.

Do not pad your submission with bad poems, thinking the worse ones might get through thanks to your stronger work. This will just result in the whole bunch being rejected, in all probability.

Next we need to scope out a market. There are numerous ways of doing this. Duotrope is probably the most useful resource around. Check that your target accepts electronic submissions and are currently open to submissions at all. Read their guidelines thoroughly and follow every one. It's amazing how many people completely fail to follow the most basic of instructions when sending off the work they've (presumably) slaved over for so long. Earn some points with the editors and do what they ask you. This means: check whether you should be including poems in the body of the email or in an attachment, whether all poems should go in one or several attachment(s), whether simultaneous submissions are allowed, whether submissions of previously published work are allowed, and so on.

Next we have the cover letter to deal with. This should be kept short and functional. Something along the lines of


Dear (Editor's name -- you must try to find their real name at all costs. You can then address them by their first name or second, depending on which you think is more suitable)

Please find included below/attached in a .doc/.rtf/.pf 5 poems for consideration in (Mag name): Ode to Sprouts, Winter Landscape with Old Trout, I Like Birds, I Like Weather and The Epic Ballade of Sir Turnip.

(Biographical paragraph optional - try to work out from the submissions page whether this is needed in your first query. If you do put some info about yourself, feel free to list relevant achievements, but try to whittle it down to the top several. None of that 'Was captain of tiddlywinks at Primary School' stuff.

Best wishes,
Full Name As Should Appear In Print


If you end up getting rejected (this will happen a lot), don't reply with something like 'Oh that's lucky, Poetry just picked up all those poems anyway' because the editor will probably forward any future submissions to the trash. If you feel you have to respond, keep it to something like 'Thanks for being so quick with your reply. I hope I can send you something better in the future.' Simple fact of the matter is that if you start to build up some kind of rapport, you are going to stand a better chance with your submissions.

If you have any questions ask away here, and I will try to update this as seems necessary.