In publishing, the slush pile is the set of unsolicited query letters or manuscripts sent either directly to the publisher or literary agent by authors, or to the publisher by an agent not known to the publisher.
Sifting through the slush pile is a job given to assistants-to-the-editors, or to outside contractors (called "publisher's readers" or "first readers"). If assistants find something interesting there and can persuade a more senior editor to consider it, they may get some credit for themselves, especially if the piece is subsequently published and sells respectably.
Most agents and the major publishing houses do not accept unsolicited manuscripts. However, smaller presses may accept queries.
In 2008 HarperCollins introduced a website, authonomy, to manage and exploit the slush pile from a web-based perspective.
Famous quotes containing the word pile:
“There is the guilt all soldiers feel for having broken the taboo against killing, a guilt as old as war itself. Add to this the soldier’s sense of shame for having fought in actions that resulted, indirectly or directly, in the deaths of civilians. Then pile on top of that an attitude of social opprobrium, an attitude that made the fighting man feel personally morally responsible for the war, and you get your proverbial walking time bomb.”
—Philip Caputo (b. 1941)