Tips From the Slush Pile: Known Mythologies You’ve created a beautiful new world with a gorgeous magic system and deep characters that are gonna make your readers *feel all the things* with their struggles. But in the process of immersing your reader in this fantastic world, you gave your characters the names of Greek gods […]

Tips from the Slush Pile! (Because it’s been a while.) (And also because I am annoyed.) Let’s talk rejections. Rejections are hard. They feel personal, like a mini attack on your dreams. But rejections are also a huge part of this industry. Doesn’t make it easier. Rejections are still hard. Celebrate your rejections. You are […]

The Shadow Mountain Slush Pile opens soon so I thought I’d better do another… TIPS FROM THE SLUSH PILE! Shadow Mountain recently made the change to limit submissions to 50 pages. You’ll notice this does not include a word count. Yeah, so did some people submitting. Your 50 pages should have: – 1 inch margins […]

Tips From the Slush Pile! Y’all. You know how I feel about Prologues, right? That they’re usually an excuse to infodump and don’t actually benefit the story. Just got a submission that not only has an Prologue but an Epigraph. **Now with more infodumping!** Woot. Please do not do this to me. I want to […]

Tips From the Slush Pile! When including comp titles, make sure they are actually a good comparison to your story. (Because that’s what “comps” mean.) For instance, if you have an adult Historical Fiction and both of your comp titles are solidly in the Middle Grade Fantasy section, then perhaps you should find something closer […]

Tips From The Slush Pile! (The slush is open, so you had to know this was coming…) I’ve been told I include too many negative examples in my tips. Today, I’m taking a cliched opening (that I’ve already seen several times this week) and I’m gonna tell ya how to make it *not* cliche. Cliche: […]

Tips from the Slush Pile: I had a question asked about the synopsis and realized I haven’t had a tip about that so here ya go! What a synopsis is: – A short summary of your book. Long enough to include pivotal plot points, but not so long it qualifies as a chapter from your […]

Tips from the Slush Pile: Let’s talk fonts. The industry standard is Times New Roman, 12 pt font. Some other fonts are acceptable, like Garamond and Calibri, because those are easy to read and don’t strain the eyes. You want to display your writing as much as possible so an easy font is best. However, […]

The Slush Pile is open this week and you know what that means! TIPS FROM THE SLUSH PILE: While including your bio in your query letter, keep it to writing-related items, like most recent publications or awards for your work. If you don’t have any writing experience, that’s fine. But keep your bio short. No […]

Tips from the Slush Pile: Do not compare skin color to food. It’s not appropriate and some find it rather offensive. There are plenty of other colors in the world without using food and those options could also prove useful for conveying tone and character. A pretty, red-haired woman might have hair the color of […]