Tricks of the Trade

I like it when things happen to me because of this blog. You might remember the first time this happened, when I got my first friend of the blog. The other day, something new happened. And it was noteworthy in another way.

I got an e-mail from a representative at a website called www.slushpilereader.com, a new website that claims it will let you the author upload your manuscript to be rated by the site readers and published as a real book if it is one of the very top rated manuscripts overall. Cool service, huh? No, not really. Honestly don't get yourself involved in this sort of thing.

You have to be careful. See, the e-mail I got specifically referenced my entry called "From Work to the Workshop." You might browse the entry and notice that I happen to drop the phrase "Slush Pile Reader" in the middle of my incomplete list of possible jobs. So they found my blog with a phrase search and failed to check for context. Cool, warning signs!

I don't know for sure if this particular website is a scam, and I have to say that after pretty extensive research they seem, barring further development, to be on the up and up. But that doesn't mean it's a very good thing to get involved in. Now, scams might be the biggest problem for any author. Don't take any service that you have to pay for. Don't take any service that compromises the safety or integrity of your writing (without copyright, for instance). Do not do anything that promises unagented publication - especially if it promises it with a major publisher. Major publisher's do not publish anything if you don't have an agent anymore. That’s the quick and dirty list for surefire signs of a scam. Be safe. Under no circumstances submit yourself to these problems.

But something like slushpilereader is dangerous for other reasons. It gives you no opportunity to ever record an advance through the service, for one. It has very limited exposure, for another. It encourages authors to give up on traditional publishing, for a third. And that is the most egregious offense. Why? Because traditional publishing, with a real agent and an editor, is the only way to make any money or have any widespread distribution. Services like slushpilereader, no matter how legit, are catering themselves specifically to the lazy (who don't want to go through the trouble of finding an agent and editor, writing queries, and getting honest rejections) the desperate (who will take anything), and the naive (who just don't know better).

I wanted to write an entry on scams today. That didn't exactly happen. But as a beginning writer you have to be acutely aware of the population of scams, scammers, and second rate services ready to fleece you for your money and your work. You just have to stay on the straight and narrow track. Alternative publishing is tempting because it is easier than traditional publishing, But it's easier because it's worse. And there are no two ways about it. So please, make yourself aware of the environment you're jumping into. It's a dangerous world for us.