Something Nasty in the Slushpile

Sammy Looker

$26.99

Hardback

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QTY:

English

Constable
02 October 2014

Fiction & Literature; Publishing industry; Humour

Most publishers keep a slushpile - the stack of unsolicited manuscripts which contains a large percentage of preposterous or frightening book proposals, which might just conceal that one jewel of a bestseller or classic novel lying near the bottom.

Authors discovered via the slush pile include Roddy Doyle, J. K. Rowling and Philip Roth. Stephenie Meyer sent 15 query letters about her teenage-vampire saga and got nearly 10 rejection letters; one even arrived after she signed with an agent and received a three-book deal from Little, Brown.

Kathryn Stockett's The Help was turned down 60 times over 3 years before becoming a best seller. Sadly though, these are the exceptions...

Written by a reader with over a decade of slush pile experience, Something Nasty in the Slushpile takes a tour through the 'do's and 'don't's of book proposal, including many examples of hilarious, misguided and plain weird approaches.

By: Sammy Looker
Imprint: Constable
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 204mm, Width: 133mm, Spine: 17mm
Weight: 256g
ISBN: 9781472111029
ISBN 10: 1472111028
Pages: 192
Publication Date: 02 October 2014
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Sammy Looker, the aptly named reader at Constable, joined the firm in 1923 and was still there 40 years later. It was always possible to tell when a manuscript had been read by Looker as the pages tended to stick together, given Looker's tendency to eat fishpaste sandwiches while reading. The author of Something Nasty in the Slush Pile has chosen to use Sammy's name as a nom de plume.