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January 20, 2010
The Slush Pile and Self-Publishing
Posted by Alan Wexelblat
A Friday opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal on the "death" of the slush pile is generating some amusing responses around the blogosphere.
(The "slush pile" is the name given to the unsolicited and unagented manuscripts that are submitted by authors directly to publishers, movie studios, etc. without the assistance of someone like a literary agent. Usually slush pile authors are unknowns hoping to break through.)
Boingboing pointed to a response by Seth Fischer on Rumpus in which he more or less admits that nobody's going to get published out of the slush pile - though he himself still sends in unsolicited manuscripts. Instead, he argues, authors should consider self-publishing. Considering that the Copyfight entry on CreateSpace, a self-publish-on-demand offering still continues to garner comments and feedback 2+ years after I posted it, I would say that this is a more viable option than people might initially assume.
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1. Seth Fischer on January 21, 2010 11:49 AM writes...
Thanks for the link, but I do want to make one small correction. In the article, I more or less admit that no one will get published out of the slush pile at places like Random House or the really big literary magazines, but small presses, I think, are just as good a way to go if not better than self-publishing. It's all about the small presses, whether you submit to them or start your own.
Permalink to Comment2. DrWex on January 25, 2010 10:15 AM writes...
OK, fair point and thank you for the clarification.
Permalink to Comment3. Vincent Chandler on February 17, 2010 6:02 PM writes...
Hello Alan. I work for Slush Pile Reader, Press a publisher in San Francisco. And much like Authonomy, we allow authors to upload their manuscript so members can read and vote for their favorites; however, we go a step further with a promise-to-publish for the highest ranked manuscripts across all genres. All of this, with no charge to the author - ever.
As writer and author forums and online communities abound, so does the level and breadth of support and significance for writers and their craft. Fictionaut is another great resource, for short-story writers, with an elite group of writing communities embedded within the site to hone and sharpen one's craft. The stereotype of what one expects to find online and in the slush pile, online and off, is vastly changing.
Many have been rescued from the slush pile, and many, many more have been lost within it. Just makes me wonder what we're missing.
Cheers and thanks. Vincent Chandler
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