A Look Through the Slush Pile

Unsolicited manuscripts often end up in a mound which is referred to in the publishing industry as the slush pile. Many publishers no longer accept unsolicited manuscripts, as they were being inundated with as many as 1000 a day. Those that do see piles of work sent to them by exuberate but unknown authors or their agents.

Readers of the slush pile will tell you that many submissions are written incredibly poorly, and that they will often not even get through the first page prior to rejecting a book. The first page of a manuscript must hook the reader for it to be looked at further.

Many times manuscripts are rejected because they do not match the genre that the particular publisher publishes. To avoid this problem a writer should always carefully research the publisher prior to submitting a manuscript. It is estimated that less than one percent of those items in the slush pile will even be considered for publication. From those that are considered, less than 1 in 1000 will actually be published.

Helpful sources:
Writers home office
Commercial cutting and printing
Business and writing
Shipping packaging of books

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