When I first began as an intern with a literary agency, I was thrilled to get to look through the submissions inbox. I was tasked with the ultimate quest: find the diamond in the rough. The gem among rocks and stones. It was a scavenger hunt extraordinaire. Being a writer myself, the very notion of reading through other writers' manuscripts was a dream come true. But I quickly realized that I needed some new glasses, not because I couldn't see well enough to read, but because mine were rose-tinted and not at all prepared for the reality of the slush pile. "For every ten submissions you read, you might find one good one," Cyle Young told me when I first started working with him. That may not seem like much of a surprise, but when the agency receives hundreds of submissions, that number starts to feel pretty discouraging. Yes, that's right. I get discouraged by that. It's so hard sending rejections to writers and authors. We agents, junior agents, and interns want you to succeed, but I know it may not seem like it when the form rejections keep coming in one after another. So what makes a diamond in the rough? Here are a few tips on making your submission stand out among the masses. 1. Write Well (Please!!!) I know this is a given, but you have no idea how many submissions I've read where the writer simply doesn't understand the basics of the English language or storytelling. I've seen stream of consciousness with no punctuation or paragraph breaks. I've seen cringy cliches and blocks of dense prose with no dialogue (help!). I've seen typos and verb tense switches. And then, just when I think I've seen it all, something else pops into my inbox that makes me say, "Well, that's new." And not in a good way. So please, read your work carefully and have several people who aren't your mom or best friend take a look at it. All I ask is that you hook me from line one and take me on an adventure with complex people struggling through conflict toward change. No need to show off with fancy prose or rip off every classic that you know. Be authentic and make me care about your story. For more tips on grabbing a slush pile reader's attention check out this post on Shimmer Magazine's site. 2. Don't Tell Me Yours is a Future Bestseller Of course, you should have some confidence in your abilities as a writer, but please, none of that "my book will sell millions and you'd be stupid not to take it." Seriously, people say this stuff. Let the writing speak for itself. The whole "my book is the next Harry Potter" is not going to fly. Arrogance gets you nowhere with agents. There's room for improvement in every writer. If you need to, repeat Ernest Hemingway's words to yourself every morning: "We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master." Lead with that. "I am an apprentice." "I am a quick learner." "I am teachable." These are the things that show an agent you're easy to work with and ready to do the hard work to get published. Your writing may be good, but being willing to learn will make you a great writer. 3. Platform: Have Something! Saying you don't have platform basically tells an agent that you have no readership and no audience. Your writing may be excellent, but nothing sells without an audience. Yes, platform building is hard work, and we all just want to sit inside away from people and write. I get it. It's scary to put yourself out there, but you owe it to your readers. They don't know it yet, but they need to hear the message or story you have. Writers don't send their manuscript to an agent before it's ready. Consider platform as part of that process of being ready. Don't pitch your story until you have a baseline to work with. A baseline is better than nothing. And if you only have 3 followers on Twitter, please just leave that out. Give an agent your best work. At the very least, make sure you show up when he or she googles your name. This is just scraping the surface when it comes to the things I see happen in the slush pile. If you take at least one of the things I said to heart, then it means you're already one step closer to being that one in ten. Stay tuned for more Slush Pile Stories in the future! If you have any questions about the slush pile, I'd be happy to answer them in the comments or dedicate another blog post to them.
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