Get Published Using The New Online Slushpiles
To get published, your book has traditionally had to make its way through one or two immense stacks of manuscripts (known as slushpiles). The first of these is the slushpile in an agent's office, which once upon a time was optional. Next it has to get through one of the slushpiles in the publisher's office, either the smaller “agented” pile or the much larger “unsolicited” pile.The process has always been slow. But these days, with publishers less willing to pay junior editors to read slush, it has become downright glacial. Yet, publishers still need ways for unknown authors to get published. It's the newly discovered authors, the new books, that breath life into the industry. One way of solving the problem has been to let book readers become the new “junior editors.” That is, to create systems whereby authors get their books read by a small number of average readers. Publishers can then look for the books that get the highest reader response. Instead of wading through enormous piles of low quality slush, publishers can just look through the much smaller pile of pre-screened books. Beginning authors should therefore consider getting their manuscripts into these new-style slushpiles. Some of the new slushpiles, mentioned elsewhere, include writing contests and the self-publishing universe. These involve some expense (especially the latter). Nonetheless, publishers know they are more likely to find books worth publishing by looking through the lists of contest winners and top selling self-published works.In 2008, Harper Collins embarked on a new route—an online slushpile to which any would-be author could submit a manuscript for no cost. Anyone can read these manuscripts and vote on which ones are the best. The top rated manuscripts are then looked at by Harper Collins' editors. The site is called Authonomy, and it's worth checking out. You submit your manuscript to the site one chapter at a time, which means you don't have to show your whole book unless you want to. It also means you can use the site to get feedback on your first chapter. For instance, if you submit a first chapter and it gets a high rating, you know you're on the right track. If it gets panned, maybe you need to rewrite it. Self-published authors can even post a link so that readers can buy a copy of the book after reading a sample online. Harper Collins also has a similar website just for would-be teen authors called Inkpop that works the same way. More recently, Penguin Books has launched a similar site called Book Country. The main difference between the two is that Book Country invites other publishers to scout for new authors on its site in addition to Penguin. My guess is that more of these online slushpiles will crop up, since they offer benefits to both publishers and writers. They allow good books to get the attention from publishers they deserve, while letting publishers ignore the worst manuscripts. If you want to get published, keep an eye out for other major publishers launching similar initiatives.
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