Get Thee To A Slush Pile, Part Two

In part one of this article I talked about why a writer, especially a beginning writer of short fiction, should seriously consider looking for a position reading slush with a small press magazine or ezine. In this article I’ll look at ways someone with no contacts can go about looking for a volunteer position as slush reader.

Do note I say ‘volunteer,’ because if you think those readers of slush and junior editors in the world of small press publications are getting paid even a token amount you are sadly mistaken — especially at the entry level positions a first-time reader can aspire to. As meager as payment tends to be for writers at this level, it’s not so much as a dewdrop in the desert for slush readers of small press publications. The rewards of these positions are in learning your craft, building your contacts, and in being part of something larger that you believe in and want to help succeed.

Also, be aware that my experience with this is purely as a writer who has dabbled in editing, not as someone seeking to attain the higher echelons of that vocation. My advice is colored by this, and someone who is serious about pursuing editing as an end in itself, or even as a profession, should look elsewhere for information on that path.

All Hail the Internet

It used to be that the plucky young writer who wanted to make a good impression on an editor could maybe arrange for a face-to-face, walk-in meeting with said editor — somewhere in downtown Manhattan. Fortunately, the internet has leveled the playing field (and also changed it in enumerable other ways — like making a lot of small press publications and ezines possible in the first place), and it is now possible to make that first impression with a private message, email, blog comment, or forum post. This means editors are probably receiving a lot more of this kind of ’static’ than they once did, but how else is a gal in Nebraska supposed to impress upon a guy in New Jersey that she’d be an asset to his editorial team? The internet provides a thousand ways for the proactive writer to make the contacts she needs to thrive.

Is there a small press publisher or magazine you like to read? Are they established pros, or start-ups? Do they look like they are short on personnel? There is a lot to be found out from a publisher’s web site, many of which you can find by following links from Ralan’s or Duotrope, and most of those sites proudly list their editorial team and publishing history. Clearly, you want a fit with your interests and experience level, but don’t be afraid to aim high in your initial queries — the old saw ‘nothing ventured, nothing gained’ didn’t get to to be an old saw for nothing!

Get Your Name Out

So you’ve found a crop of publishers you are interested in, but the guys running it don’t know you from Adam. What do you do? Well, while it may seem a bit stalkerish, you could always start by googling them to find their homepages and online hang-outs. Simply leaving comments on their blog and participating in the same forum can give you a reason to interact with them, and means that you will longer be a complete stranger.

Now, on the surface of things this sounds rather creepy, chasing someone around the internet to ‘be their friend,’ and I’ll have to admit I haven’t yet done it myself so I couldn’t tell you if it actually feels creepy; but it is essentially just taking the accidental process I (and a lot of people) followed in our own haphazard ways and making it deliberate and planned. My own journey went something like this: researching fiction markets lead me to publisher’s websites, following links from those sites or google searches lead me to online forums, and interacting on the forums put me in touch with various editors and publishers in the small press without me really realizing I was making valuable contacts. But whether it’s a serendipitous process or a deliberate one, the result should be the same — meeting people that are good for you.

What does that mean? Well, just remember that ambition and sincerity are not mutually exclusive, that you can like and respect someone for who they are as well as value them as a contact that can further you own interests. In today’s world of instant communications and virtual friendships, pursuing this kind of social capital is as natural as it is beneficial; it’s called ‘networking’ and business types have been doing it for decades. And don’t be at all surprised if it leads to genuine friendships over the years — after all the people you meet through writing and editing will share many of your same passions.

No Experience? No Problem

It’s all well and good to get your name out and schmooze with these editor types, but what will you tell them when you do make first contact and you have absolutely zero experience with editing? That you are enthusiastic? That you like to read the same things they do? Actually, that’s not a bad start, so don’t ever dismiss the importance of being a fan — in fact the more widely read you are in whatever genre they publish in, the more valuable you can be to them, especially if you keep current on recent pro and amateur fiction markets. But what else can you do? How else do you get some skills and set yourself apart from the herd?

Critique

In part one of this article I mentioned the benefits of joining a critique group to get experience with ‘raw,’ that is unedited and straight from the writer’s fevered brain, manuscripts. A variety of online critique groups exist, some catering specifically to genre fiction (Critters is a popular free group, Forward Motion is another), and participating in these groups actually comes closer to the experience of reading slush than perhaps anything else, and is also a good way to flex those proofreading muscles. And, unlike face-to-face critiquing, online workshops are carried out the same way most editors handle their communication, through email, with all the pitfalls of etiquette that can entail. So it turns out online groups can also be a good rehearsal for sending polite, professional correspondence as an editor.

When you are looking for that editing position, being able to claim some months experience in a critique group not only makes you more desirable, but it should have taught you a great deal about reading manuscripts with a critical eye, budgeting your reading time, and dealing with authors. You can read more about those aspects of slush reading in the third part of this article.

Review

If you didn’t like books you wouldn’t be reading this, and you’d never think about doing something crazy with your time like critiquing fiction manuscripts for no pay to get a perspective on the submissions game. So why not review some? Not only does writing a good book review require many of the same skills that evaluating slush does — analyzing narrative elements and making judgments about a piece’s effectiveness — but it is also a concrete addition to your portfolio in a way critiquing is not. You can’t very well show your emails from your online workshop to a prospective boss, but you can link to your reviews on the web or send him a manuscript of reviews you’ve had in print.

There are a lot of places on the web that need book reviews, and many will even send you the books they want reviewed if you like. If you don’t want to start a book review blog like I did, have a look at SFReader as a showcase for your reviews.

Publish

Maybe it’s obvious, maybe it isn’t, but actually having published short fiction sends a message to an editor that you might at least know something about effective storytelling. While having publication credits is also a way to get yourself known to other editors — in fact if you’re well known enough they might love to have you on board to get that name of yours on the cover of an anthology — it is also a signal that you can craft a manuscript capable of swimming free of the slush pile. ‘Being able to do it’ often translates into ‘being able to recognize it when you see it,’ so having some publication credits is a great way to distinguish yourself.

First Contact

All of these areas mutually reinforce one another, as does most anything writing- or reading-related that you can think to turn into a asset. Don’t overlook your job experience and other ‘real world’ pursuits, either, when thinking about how to sell yourself to a prospective publisher. But once you’ve considered your selling points, and you’ve gotten your name out and know who you’d love to work with, how do you do approach them?

Just ask. Yes, it can be, and often is, that simple — it was for me when I got my first editing gig. Sure, if the press happens to have an open call for readers, or advertises some other lack in their personnel, that’s a clear invitation to contact them then and there. But that’s usually pretty rare. What isn’t rare is that most of these small presses are always looking for talent — and help — and an extra set of eyes is guaranteed to make their life easier.

In your initial approach draw upon what you have in common with the editor you are speaking with, express enthusiasm for their products (genuine enthusiasm — you are reading their publications, right? if not, back up and do so before you embarrass yourself), outline your skillset and interests, and be completely honest in stating that you are interested in learning the editorial ropes. That’s really it right there, there isn’t any secret way to contact someone that you don’t already know and have a professional or personal relationship with for a position like this.

Offer your services for whatever the editor has in mind — proofreading and copyediting are places he may want you to start before you read slush. Expect an evaluation period in which you make few decisions while the editors you report to get to know your capabilities and talents. In the third and final part of this article I’ll talk more about just what a slush reader is expected to do, and offer some tips for people new to that position that will save them making some of the mistakes I did when I first started doing it myself.

Above all, remember this is a position that requires serious commitment from you, so do not enter lightly into it and do not expect to get away with less time investment than you would give to your own writing week in and week out. If you aren’t prepared to do that, or cannot, for at least six months, then looking for a slush position is probably not for you.

• Get Thee to a Slush Pile, Part One
• Get Thee to a Slush Pile, Part Three