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:
“We have dreamt of every woman there is, and dreamt too of the miracle that would bring us the pleasure of being a woman, for women have all the qualities—courage, passion, the capacity to love, cunning—whereas all our imagination can do is naively pile up the illusion of courage.”
—Jean Baudrillard (b. 1929)