Tips from the Slush Pile

Rules are made to be broken, but you can’t break them unless you know them first! Every Tuesday I’ll give you a few tips that might help you push your manuscript to the top of the slush pile.

When querying anything:

1. Do your research! “Are you querying a boy agent or a girl agent?” is a good start. “Do they represent your genre?” is another one.

2. Include writing credentials, but not your life story. Mentioning a few key writing organizations and previous publishing credits (at a real house, HarperCollins, Penguin, Candlewick Press, ect.) can take you pretty far, but if you don’t have these, a simple “this is my first book” is just fine.

3. Let us know if it’s a multiple submission. It doesn’t hurt your chances. In fact, I personally encourage multiple submissions. It’s just common courtesy to let us know.