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On another front, I had a disturbing thought the other day - that the growing number of self-published novels in individual author sites and free (or low price) ebook sites, all clamoring for sales or reviews, is becoming the online manifestation of the ubiquitous 'slush pile,' destined to languish in electronic obscurity no matter how well written or received they may be, if the authors aren't pushing them at publishing companies. Am I included in this literary limbo?
I thought at first that because I didn't have the $500 or more for a professional editor or proofreader to comb through my manuscript, just having a single grammar or spelling error would condemn my novel forever, but looking around the blogosphere, I actually found some comfort.
What actually qualifies as slush or truly crappy writing? According to DustinM from 'Who Is Going to Read the Slush Pile?' at Blog Fiction:
By 'Crap', I don't mean stories that are trite or have characters that aren't "real". By Crap I mean major, awful, blunders. Things like:
* The Story isn't finished and stops either mid chapter or even mid-sentence
* Spelling and Grammar is so atrocious that it's hard to understand
* Blatant Plagiarism (word-for-word) or even more suble versions like (same story with changed names & dates)
* Doesn't match the story or description
* Huge logic or story blunders, like a character's name gets changed half way through the story.
* The story is missing either a beginning, middle, or end
That made me feel a lot better. So, going by that measure, really terrible writing should be easy enough to spot. In that case, just how much slush is actually in the 'slush pile'?
I found a couple encouraging points at Salon.com, in the letters section replying to a June 22nd article "When anyone can be a published author" by Laura Miller:
"Fears of slush are greatly overstated
I've read slush for a living before, and I've worked for a top five New York publisher. Almost all of it is obviously garbage two or three pages in, and can be summarily dismissed without much effort.
Personally, I'm all for the replacement of gatekeepers with tastemakers. There is a much lighter touch to the latter. Do the genuinely funny youtube videos have a hard time rising to prominence? Not that I've seen. Reading literary fiction certainly involves a greater investment of attention, but I'm confident the same dynamic can prevail.
—Sylvain "
"The Revolution will not go through Manhattan
This whole idea of the publishing industry being just a bunch of well-meaning literature lovers puttering around their tiny little cluttered NY offices is nonsense. Publishing is controlled by large multi-national conglomerates. The industry is driven by marketing. When the self-publishing revolution topples it, will there be bad books? Sure. (There are plenty of bad books now, so I don't see why we have to nod obediently when the publishing industry tells us that we don't know what we're talking about). Something else better will rise in its place.
Besides, pretty much every other art form has embraced DIY. Take music for example, you can write an album, play every instrument and sing, record and distribute and it yourself and nobody gives a shit about that, as long as it's good. Same for film and visual arts. Only in books is DIY a stigma. And I understand why: it is a direct threat to their business. And that is all.
—AchillesisCrying"
Ok, so I feel a lot less slushy now, at least until my book gets thoroughly molested by agents or prospective publishers regardless of the fans I've won so far. Cool...
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