Comments on: Uh oh. Slusher Sense is Tingling!

By: Editor Douglas Cohen

Editor Douglas Cohen — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 04:25:56 +0000

I hesitate to give a blanket “no” to this question. There are other things in cover letters that might be worth mentioning. For example, if you’ve attended the Odyssey, Clarion, or one of the other fine speculative workshops out there, I know that you’ve had some very good writing teachers. I’ve pulled a number of writers from the slush who have attended workshops such as these. It doesn’t mean I’m automatically going to set aside, but it certainly doesn’t hurt to let an editor know this. Or if you’re writing a story that employs a lot of medieval weaponry and you happen to be a medieval weapons expert, hey, that’s good to know. Or if you’re writing a story set in Mozambique and you’ve actually visited Mozambique, well, it doesn’t hurt to tell me that. So there are exceptions besides just mentioning your publishing credits. But yes, publishing credits do tend to be the most important thing in a cover letter.

By: roberta melvin

roberta melvin — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 20:08:39 +0000

do you care about cover letters other than publishing credits?

By: Editor Douglas Cohen

Editor Douglas Cohen — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 21:54:44 +0000

I certainly recognize publication in WOTF as a professional writing credit. That said, I’ve never posted the exact system in determining what constitutes an automatic pass if one’s fiction credits fall strictly into the non-novel variety. The idea of doing that has never sat well with me, even when I was handling the slush back in my first year.

By: Brad R. Torgersen

Brad R. Torgersen — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 21:00:37 +0000

Not sure how much a Writers of the Future win counts at ROF, but I am keeping my fingers crossed that it gets me somewhere. I don’t write a lot of fantasy, but when I do, this is my top place to send, as writer and subscriber.