Stand Out in the Slush

As many of you know, in April I launched Sift, a group book review blog with a twist: we only review self-published sci-fi and fantasy novels. (Shameless plug: If you have an eReader and want to get the skinny on no less than 16 self-pubbed SFF books per month, I'd appreciate a follow on the Sift blog!)

And it's kind of like a slush pile.

As editor, I review every submission that comes in, checking it against our submission guidelines before forwarding it to the requested reviewer. I'm starting to understand some of the things that irk agents to the point where they complain on their blogs and twitter so I thought I'd share some of these insights with you.

1) Follow the blasted submission guidelines!

I know, I know. We all know this. Still, there are globs of writers who brush them off. These aren't arbitrary; they're designed to help us get through the slush as efficiently as possible. I personally receive about 20 submissions every month. I can review 2.

I suppose I could slog through the ten pages of editorial statements, philisophical discussions, quotes from people whom I don't know, links to "more information," etc to find the half-page worth of info I actually need. Or I could decline your submission, read through two other submissions where the guidelines are followed, accept them for review, walk my dog, write a page of my own and get ready for work. Which do you think I'll choose?

2) Genre matters

Our website says - in no less than four places - we only take works with elements of science fiction and fantasy. You could have the best blessed women's fiction novel ever written on any planet that ever existed and have a raving review signed in blood by Oprah herself and we still wouldn't be interested. And neither would our readers.

3) No Attacments, No Exceptions

Y'all are writers so you get this: My laptop is my life. If anything happened to it I would ...

 

Then hunt down whoever was responsible and show them what the true meaning of pain is.

I see every unsolicited attachment as a potential virus. When I say "Any unsolicited attachments will be deleted unread" I mean... well, I mean I'll send you a nice email asking you to take a look at our submission guidelines once again but I'm still kinda new at this so I can't promise what will happen when I become more jaded.

4) Yes, your first chapter is important...

But so is the rest of the book! I see SOOOO many books where the summary and first chapter are perfect: no typos, writing with impact, great dialogue. But then? It falls apart.

Grammar and spelling mistakes on every page. Repetitive sentence structure. Stilted dialogue.

I know what has happened here. You've heard that the first chapter is essential to selling the book, so you put it through the ringer. Beta readers, online critique boards, maybe even a professional editor.

But why not for the rest of the book? Either you: are lazy? or don't care about any point past but getting the sale? Either way, I don't want to read your book. And I imagine an agent doesn't want to work with you.


When writers read blogs, we see a lot of "don't do this, don't do that" kind of language. I hope I've helped you understand a little more about why they say these things. AND I hope the lolcats have helped lessen the sting of my tough love :-)