I just realized that I've been putting my bio where the cover letter should be when using submittable to submit stories. Is there a designated area for a bio? Do I put it in my document underneath my story? What all needs to be included with a cover letter? Been a while.
No there's not. I usually do it like so:
Dear People who print things,
BLABLABLALBA cover letter.
Go screw yourselves,
Shannon Barber
Author Bio:
Blababla Shannon likes bugs blabla.
~
But only if they ask for a bio. Otherwise, I skip the bio until they ask or put it where they say to. It's rare I see a magazine want the bio on the submission.
Thanks Shannon. That helps a bunch.
I get confused by it too. St least they have your info through the stuff you put up up on submit table to join, so they know who you are and how to get in touch.
I do the same except just draw a line with the bio underneath instead of announcing said bio. My Submittable cover letters are usually extremely short, a few sentences at the most. A quick line about why I dig their zine that proves I've read it, a tease of what I'm attaching and how long it is (unless it's flash, then I don't bother with length), maybe a witty or irreverent call to action, and then the bio.
I never include the bio, just the cover letter with relevant info. In my experience, with the notice of acceptance the editors have requested the bio. I'd assumed that's how it was normally done (by definition) but perhaps not...
Doubt it's a big deal either way, but generally it's a good idea to keep the preliminaries light.
I put the Bio in there too, after my letter. I think most places I have submitted to have requeated a bio, so that's where I put it.
Dear People who print things,
BLABLABLALBA cover letter.
Go screw yourselves,
Shannon Barber
Author Bio:
Blababla Shannon likes bugs blabla.
L0L
