Comments on: The slush pile

By: Writer Gurl

Writer Gurl — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 00:13:31 +0000

That's awesome and nice to know. You're keeping the dream alive…

By: DGLM

DGLM — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 03:09:51 +0000

Georgia: I would love to join you on Twitter on March 3rd. Please tell me more.

By: DGLM

DGLM — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 22:04:22 +0000

One of the reasons we need to think about how we’d do something like this is just what you’re saying here, Anonymous. No one has to worry that we’ll send a query they submitted to us to our blog readers, unless they actively choose to participate in such an opportunity. We’ll think about this--so if you’re interested, watch our blog for more information in the coming weeks!

-Jane

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 19:09:24 +0000

I'd be worried about this from an ethical point of view. If someone's sending an agent a manuscript, it's not so that a member of the public can read it. What happens if the competition winner likes what they see and submits it to other agents? What if someone in the pile has other representation by now? What if the competition winner says 'yeah, there was this absolutely terrible one about magic fish living in Nazi Germany, god that was a load of rubbish written by a moron' and you've just signed that author?

I've read slush piles. I know how terrible the general standard is. I also know that it's a bit like smokers and lung cancer – would-be writers never see themselves as the norm, they always see themselves as the exception.

Here's a web cartoon on a similar theme – about a competition Sony have to win the chance to be a video game tester: http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2010/1/25/

If you give away the first prize of being able to read ten items from the slush pile, the second prize should be the opportunity to read twenty.

By: Wanda B. Ontheshelves

Wanda B. Ontheshelves — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 18:11:48 +0000

Hi Jane,

That's great! Just have to find a way to maintain privacy (and dignity) of the "random slush pile querants," I think – no "personally identifiable information" posted by contest winners about them on blogs, etc…maybe as a workaround, DGLM would have to include an all-expenses paid trip to New York, to physically inspect the slush pile oh well, just an idea on a cold winter's day…

By: DGLM

DGLM — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 16:17:31 +0000

Thanks for the suggestion, Wanda. We're going to think about whether there's a way we could make that work! Keep an eye out!

-Jane

By: georgiamcbridebooks

georgiamcbridebooks — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 22:12:06 +0000

What a wonderful post. Thank you. We are having a LIVE discussion via or weekly chat on twitter on March 3; inspired by this same arcitle. Care to join us for #YAlitchat that evening? We'd love to hear more from you. Thanks-Georgia McBride

By: Victoria Dixon

Victoria Dixon — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 20:12:57 +0000

Wanda wrote: It would be great if an agency (hint, hint) would have a contest, and the winner gets to read 30 random slush pile submissions. Just for the sake of an "eye opening experience."

What a wonderful, novel idea. (Pun intended.) I wonder how many would take up the offer on it. I'd do it.

By: Wanda B. Ontheshelves

Wanda B. Ontheshelves — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 19:55:32 +0000

Re: "People shouldn't delude themselves or take false comfort."

But that's what people do - delude themselves and take false comfort. We can't help it. Sometimes the person who's all misty-eyed and soft-focus and sentimental has the stamina for the long haul, that the cold-eyed realist doesn't have. I write narrative poetry - trust me, from the poet's point of view, a novel, much less several novels, is the long haul. Cripes, does this thing ever end? Etc.

Oh well, back to revision, "the long haul."

By: Wanda B. Ontheshelves

Wanda B. Ontheshelves — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 19:45:08 +0000

Re: "I would love to spend a couple of days going through a slush pile just to see what does show up there."

Me too. I had an eye-opening experience once, regarding grant applications, when I went to a conference, and someone read an actual grant application that had been successful. It was super-humorous, almost verging on flattery. Of the "flattery will get you everywhere" variety. Flirtatious tone of voice in a grant application? I'm still mulling that one over. It was written by a tenured professor, so maybe if you have tenure you can get away with that - I don't know. I didn't have tenure and didn't get the grant that particular year.

It would be great if an agency (hint, hint) would have a contest, and the winner gets to read 30 random slush pile submissions. Just for the sake of an "eye opening experience."