Is Your Book Worth More than a Slush Pile?

It is estimated that there are 8,000,000 people in the US who are actively writing a novel.  Certainly most of them will never finish, but that's what you're up against.  Sorry.  But let's be honest here.  So please listen to rule #1... don't sent it out unsolicited!  Especially not the entire thing!

I just want to start out by urging you against turning your hard work into what is referred to as 'slush.'  OK, first of all, if anyone is calling it the 'slush pile,' really, is that where you want your book to go?  Chances are it will either be put in a literal pile, and a group of editorial assistants once a month will begrudgingly agree, in exchange for free pizza, to go through all of them, or there is one person who gets all of them delivered to his or her desk, and he/she hates going through it even more than the assistants at the other company.  Do you think any of those 8,000,000 could possibly be not very good writers?  Or maybe they're a little crazy?  Guess what they do... yep... they send their book around willy-nilly unsolicited, so do you want your manuscript in that pile?  With them?  Because here is something no one will tell you... when those manuscripts are read, by the group of assistants or that one person who does it daily... they have a great time, laughing and laughing and laughing... at the really really bad writing.  I'll ask you again, do you want your manuscript that you've slaved away at for over 2,000 hours in that pile?

Everyone has specific tastes, right?  I don't read women's romantic fiction (OK, actually, sometimes I do, but I would never admit that... please don't tell anyone).  I don't read hard science fiction, but I love dark fantasy, post-apocalyptic stories, horror, fantasy.  I don't read touchy-feely, find your heart, hidden-Christian-message junk writing (you can insert author names here).  If you were a friend of mine, and you wrote a story about a husband who uses the spirit of Christmas to reconnect with his love for his wife and family, even if it were to end up two years later on the bestseller list, I would have hated it when you asked me to read it.  Editors have tastes, too.  And some of them actually have very specific areas they're even allowed to publish into.  Oh, heck, some publishing companies stipulate what they'll publish.  I've heard of some pretty funny stories of slush sent to the totally wrong person: a science fiction editor at a science fiction publishing company who receives a romance novel.  If that is the very best romance novel ever written, he's still not going to publish it.

So, do you know what editors like what at every different publishing company?  No, so what do you?  You get someone to represent you who knows the best chance of you getting published.  You get an agent.  My next post will be about how you find a literary agent.  Hey, I can't give away everything in one post.  And you need to go write!