Somewhere in an editor's inbox there is a good poem attached to an email with no covering letter, in a file called final_FINAL_v3.docx, sent three days after the reading window closed. It will not be read. Not because it isn't any good, but because nobody has the time to work out whether it is.

UK literary magazines are run on small teams, often unpaid, often reading on a Sunday evening with the tea going cold. They are looking for work they love. What stops them is rarely the quality of the writing; it is the friction around it — the wrong file, the missing word count, the letter that reads like a press release. An hour with a checklist before you send does more for your chances than another redraft.

Read the Guidelines Before You Re-read Your Own Draft

The guidelines are not admin. They are the brief. Most magazines state word counts, reading periods, whether they want a bio, whether simultaneous submissions are welcome, and whether they pay. Read them twice: once when you decide to send, and once immediately before you send. Guidelines get updated quietly, and a window that was open in January may be shut by March.

Three questions worth answering first

• Do they actually publish this? Read two or three pieces they have put online recently. If everything they run is experimental flash fiction, a 4,000-word family saga is a hard sell, however good it is.
• Are they open? Note the closing date in your calendar with a week to spare. Late submissions are the easiest way to waste a strong piece.
• What goes where? Some editors want the bio in the email, not the file. Some read blind. Some want the whole submission in one document. Follow their system, not the one you prefer.

Formatting: The Details That Get Noticed

Nobody rejects a short story because it is set in Garamond. They do reject documents where the writer's name appears in a blind reading, or where the header still carries the name of the magazine that turned it down in March. Keep everything plain and predictable:

• 12-point font, 1.5 or double spacing, unless the guidelines say otherwise
• Page numbers and the title of the piece on every page
• A clean file — no tracked changes, no comments, no stray headers
• The format they asked for; .docx and .pdf cover most magazines
• A file name that helps: Surname-Title-Poetry.docx, not submission

If a magazine reads blind, strip your name from the document and put it in the covering letter or the online form instead.

The Covering Letter, Kept Short

Fifty to a hundred and fifty words is plenty. Write the bio in the third person and the present tense. Skip "I am a passionate writer". If you have credits, give one or two; if you don't, say nothing — nobody minds, and apologising for it draws attention to the very thing you would rather they ignored. Use the editor's name if the guidelines give one. Thank them once.

Dear [Editor's name],

Please find attached three poems — "Kettle", "Low Tide" and "Sunday Bus" — for your spring reading window. They run to 34, 28 and 41 lines.

My work has appeared in [two magazines]; I live in Sheffield and work as a hospital porter.

Thank you for reading.

[Your name]

That is the whole thing. It answers what, how long and who, in under a minute of an editor's time.

Windows, Reading Periods and Waiting

Plenty of magazines read all year; plenty more open for a month and then vanish behind a wall of submissions. Sending outside the window is the most common unforced error in UK submissions, and it is entirely avoidable. If the guidelines say a reply takes up to three months, do not query at three weeks. Wait the stated period, then one polite email is fine.

If simultaneous submissions are allowed — and most magazines now accept them — say so when you send, and tell the editor the moment the piece is taken elsewhere. Withdrawing promptly is a courtesy that gets remembered, and it costs you nothing.

Rights, Fees and the Small Print

Most first publications ask for first serial rights, or one-time rights to run the piece in that issue and keep it in their archive. Read what a contract actually asks for. If it wants all rights in perpetuity, or would stop you including your own work in a collection later, it is reasonable to ask questions before signing, and sensible to take proper advice on anything you are unsure about. Keep a simple record of where each piece has gone, when, and on what terms.

Some magazines charge a small reading fee to cover costs; others pay contributors. Neither is automatically wrong, but know which one you are dealing with. That record will also stop you sending the same story to the same magazine twice, which happens more often than anyone admits.

The 15-Point Pre-Submission Checklist

1. Guidelines read twice, and the window is open.
2. Word count within the stated limit, or within about ten per cent of it.
3. Genre, theme and tone match what the magazine publishes.
4. File type is the one they asked for.
5. Font, size and spacing follow the guidelines.
6. Name and contact details appear only where instructed.
7. Title and page numbers on every page.
8. No tracked changes, comments or old headers left in the file.
9. File name includes your surname and the piece's title.
10. Covering letter under 150 words, with no gimmicks.
11. Bio accurate, third person, no inflated claims.
12. You know whether simultaneous submissions are permitted.
13. Submission goes to the right address or form, not a general enquiries inbox.
14. You have read the rights and fee terms and are happy with them.
15. You have read the piece aloud once and the email once.

Ten Minutes Before You Press Send

Open the attachment and check it opens. Look at the subject line — your name and the title will do. Confirm the email address against the guidelines rather than your memory of them. Check the word "attachment" is true. Then save a copy of everything you sent, including the covering letter, in a folder you will find again in six weeks when the reply arrives.

After that, close the laptop and start something new. The piece is out of your hands now, and the next one is the only thing you can still improve.

Photo: andrewlloydgordon / Pixabay