There is a particular kind of hope in sending poems to a magazine you admire. You have read it, you have written something you believe in, and now you want an editor to feel the same way. The poems themselves decide most of the outcome, but the practical side matters more than many writers admit. Getting the formatting, the cover letter and the submission rules right will not make a weak poem publishable — it simply stops good poems being read in a bad mood.

Read the magazine before you send anything

Obvious advice, rarely followed. Buy or borrow a recent issue of the magazine you are approaching and read it as a writer rather than a reader. Note the length of the poems, the range of forms, whether the editors favour narrative or the fragmentary, and how much space goes to poets early in their publishing life. A poem that would sit happily in one magazine may look out of place in a themed issue elsewhere.

Then read the submission guidelines all the way to the bottom. They will tell you when the reading window opens, how many poems to send, which file formats are accepted, whether there is a fee, and whether simultaneous submissions are welcome. Many UK magazines read only during set windows each year, so work that arrives in the wrong month may go unread — not out of rudeness, but because the inbox is closed.

Formatting your poems for submission

Editors read a great deal, quickly. Make your manuscript easy to read and it will be read generously. Most magazines want a simple document, so resist the urge to design.

The basics

• Send the number of poems asked for — usually three to six — in a single file, in the format named in the guidelines. .docx and .pdf cover most cases.
• Use a plain 12-point font, black text, single spacing, and one poem per page.
• Put your name, email address and postal address at the top of the first page, and your surname with a page number on the pages after it.
• Set titles apart clearly from the body of the poem, and keep the body left-aligned rather than justified.
• Use real italics rather than capitals or quotation marks to mark italics, and keep any dedication brief.
• Name the file sensibly — Yourname-Poems-Submission.docx rather than finalfinal3.docx.

Long lines and unusual layouts

Poems with long lines, prose blocks or odd spacing are the ones most likely to break in transit. If a line runs past the margin, decide whether it should wrap or whether a hanging indent should show that it is one long line; a reader should never have to guess. Genuinely visual poems can go as a PDF so the layout holds, and it helps to explain that choice in a line of your cover letter. Avoid coloured text, decorative fonts and text boxes, which often vanish when a file is converted for printing.

Writing a cover letter that stays out of the way

A cover letter is a courtesy, not a pitch. Three short paragraphs are plenty: what you are sending, a line about yourself, and a thank you. Give the titles and the number of poems, mention one or two relevant credits if you have them, and stop. Nothing you write in a letter will improve the poems that follow it.

Do not explain what the poems mean, defend their difficulty, apologise for a lack of credits, or compare yourself to anyone famous. If the guidelines say a cover letter is not needed, send one line or none at all. Where an editor's name appears in the magazine's credits, use it; otherwise "Dear Editors" is perfectly acceptable.

Dear Editors,
Please find five poems for your consideration: "The Ferry", "Wintering", "Two Letters", "Owl Hour" and "Salt". None has been published elsewhere, and these poems are not under consideration at any other magazine.
I have had poems published in a handful of small magazines. Thank you for reading.
Yours sincerely,
A. N. Other

Simultaneous submissions: what UK magazines expect

Many UK magazines allow simultaneous submissions — the same poems sent to more than one magazine at once — because response times can run from a few weeks to several months. Plenty of others do not, and some allow them only if you say so. The guidelines will make it clear, and the rules that follow are worth keeping carefully.

If simultaneous submissions are permitted, say so plainly in your cover letter and commit to withdrawing the poems the moment one is accepted. Withdrawal means a short email the same day: which poems, where they have been placed, and thanks. Leaving an editor holding work that has already been taken elsewhere is a quick way to close a door you may want to walk through again.

Two related points trip up more writers than formatting ever does. First, do not send a second batch to the same magazine while the first is still being considered, unless the guidelines invite it. Second, check what counts as previously published: for many magazines a poem that has appeared on a public blog, in a newsletter or on social media is already published and no longer eligible. When in doubt, ask before you send.

Why good poems still come back

Rejection is the normal weather of poetry publishing, and most of it is not a verdict on quality. A few recurring reasons are worth checking against your own submission before you blame the editor:

• The poems do not resemble anything the magazine actually publishes.
• The guidelines were missed — too many poems, the wrong file type, or sent outside the reading window.
• No contact details, or a biography longer than the poems themselves.
• A simultaneous submission was not declared, or a poem had already appeared online.
• The poems are competent but not yet surprising; another draft or two might change that.

Your submission checklist

Work through this in one sitting and you will have done everything within your control.

1. Choose three to five poems that sit well together and show the range you want to be known for.
2. Read the guidelines again and note the reading window, the number of poems, the file format and any fee.
3. Format the manuscript as above, then proofread the poems on paper, not only on screen.
4. Write the cover letter, including a clear line about simultaneous submissions if they are permitted.
5. Log the submission — magazine, date, titles, expected response time — so you know when to query and what to withdraw if a poem is accepted elsewhere.
6. Send it, close the file, and start the next poem. That last step is the part that keeps the whole process going.

Photo: AymaneJed / Pixabay