Jessica Guernsey

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 […]

Tips From The Slush Pile: Just…why?? So I’m reading the newly submitted queries and pages, tracking some of the things I’ve mentioned in the past, living my best life, really. Then I get to a query where the author doesn’t talk much about their book (sadly, fairly typical), but does quote Mark Zuck’s 2017 mission […]

Shadow Mountain’s slush pile is open! And you know what that means… Tips from the Slush Pile! Please don’t have your character break the 4th wall to introduce themselves. It’s happening so often, it’s becoming cliche. I’m not even halfway through the slush and already the tally for this sort of opening is the highest […]

Tips from the Slush Pile: Your query letter should feature your book. I know, I know. This should go without saying. I want to know about your Hero, the Goal, the Obstacles, and the Stakes. I’d also like to see the genre and word count (even if it’s an estimate). What I don’t need is […]

Tips from the Slush Pile: Do not have your character describe themselves while looking in a mirror. Just…don’t. I’ve lost count of the manuscripts I’ve read where this happens, usually in the first 10 pages. And if it’s not a mirror, it’s reflective surface of some sort. There are better ways, people. Your character could […]

Tips from the Slush Pile: Make sure you are submitting a clean document, with no comments or edits left visible. I’ve mentioned this before. I’m telling you again. Why? Because the Slush Pile is open this week. There are currently 200 manuscripts in there, waiting to be evaluated. You want to put your best foot […]

Tips from the Slush Pile! (aren’t you excited?) So I get to tag all new submissions with their genre, make sure the files open correctly, basic housekeeping stuff. We opened our slush pile for one week and received 186 submissions so I had my work cut out for me. About a third of the way in, […]

In honor of the slush pile opening this week, I’m giving you a Tip from Slush Pile: Please, please, please, for the love of all things chocolate-covered, double-check your query salutation line. If you personalized your query with a real person’s name, great! Just make sure you are using the *correct* name for this particular […]

Tips from the Slush Pile: Know the expected word count range for your genre. Middle Grade varies around 30k-50k. Romance sits pretty at around 75k. Epic Fantasy gets hefty with 90k fairly typical, frequently tipping into 100k. However, 630,000 words is not a book. It is an entire series. (Ironically, it was pitched as the […]

Items listed in your bio should be your publishing credits or relevant to the story itself. I’ve said before to not ramble on and on, listing all your cats or your woes from childhood–UNLESS you wrote a book about cats or miserable childhoods. Today, I got a query where the only thing listed in the […]

NaNoWriMo = National Novel Writing Month, where the goal is to write 50,000 new words in the space of 30 days. Because why not? I’m pretty much obsessed with National Novel Writing Month. It’s be 15 years since I could let a November go by in peace. And I’ve managed to earn my purple WINNER! banner […]

Tips from the Slush Pile: Please do not open your query letter by telling me your age. Seriously. I don’t need to know your age at all, unless your book is specifically about or for people your age, and in that case, you can tell me that toward the end, in the bio section. Photo […]

Tips from the Slush Pile: Don’t start with “It was a dark and stormy night…” Just…don’t. Because stories that do this inevitably go on to say well, no it wasn’t that stormy and it was actually the middle of the afternoon and quite sunny. It’s not funny and most importantly, it’s not original. I see […]

Tips from the Slush Pile: Get to know your genres. If your story features a magical forest and talking animals, congratulations! That’s a Fantasy! It is not, however, Contemporary, which implies real world situations (aka: no magical creatures, sadly). If the whole point of your book is two people falling in love and getting together, […]