We are proud to present Slush Pile Reader’s first guest blogger Karen Bessey Pease, also know on Slush Pile Reader as Kazza or Kaz. Karen is the author of Grumble Bluff and instigator as well as co-author of the second Writers’ tag I‘ve Got Nothing. Karen is a welcome and much appreciated part of the Slush Pile Reader community and we are more than thrilled that she wanted to be our first guest blogger. Thank you Karen!
I was led, kicking and screaming, to Slush Pile Reader by my pal Jack, an exceptional writer who has been beaten up by the publishing industry, but who has never given up hope; never stopped believing in himself. I hated the idea of joining the site, because I’ve survived such an experience before; survived it, but just barely. The scars are still fading.
But if Jack wanted me to give it a try, I was game. He’s never led me astray yet, and besides, I wanted the chance for a little healthy competition with him. He thinks he’s smarter than I am, you see… and I wanted just one more chance to prove him wrong. Surely, forty-seven would be my lucky number!
My biggest concern was that SPR would be another site where ethics seemed to be the exception, rather than the norm. I’d watched from the sidelines on the other authors’ website; watched as the premise upon which the site had been created was corrupted by those authors who were so covetous of the exalted spot on the Editor’s Desk that they stopped playing by the unspoken rules and began to create their own.
Most common among the misuses of the site’s ranking system was the ‘swap-read’. An author would back another’s manuscript in exchange for the return favor. Sometimes they would give the first chapter or two a cursory read, and leave a short comment a sentence or two in length—but that was it. No book can be fairly judged by its first chapter, and no short and succinct comment can possibly aid an author in improving his or her craft. Nonetheless, manuscripts began rising rapidly through the ranks; often, without merit. When authors swapped favors by backing each other’s books, some very well-written and spell-binding manuscripts written by authors who would not ‘play the game’ were left behind. I do not believe that is what the website’s creators were hoping for. I believe they were honestly looking for le crème de la crème and not simply those novels whose authors were adept at manipulating the ranking system.
So I arrived at Slush Pile Reader full of skepticism and mistrust. I was ready to be disappointed in human nature, once again. I craved integrity in my fellow authors. I wanted to believe that these writers shared the same values, and that they honestly wouldn’t want to rise to the #1 spot unless the readers on the site honestly and truly found their story to be a cut above the rest. After all, if we didn’t want that affirmation, why wouldn’t we have simply self-published our manuscripts?
It took me less than a day to realize that SPR was not that ‘other’ site. That it was populated by honest and ethical and talented authors and caring creators and staff. I was given a poke by Saint, who asked if I would like to join him in a game of Writers’ Tag! (He’d already struck out when asking me to play Spin the Bottle, and I admired his bravery at returning to me, hat in hand.) So I climbed aboard Train of Thought and I met KJ and Alexie. Johanna and Pascal and later, Rod. Each fun-loving, fair, generous and kind. The walls began to come down, and the ice began to melt around my heart. Slush Pile Reader felt like home.
There were some worries among the authors here when there seemed to be a sudden, mass migration to SPR of authors from the ‘other’ site. Otherwise serene writers became tense. They began to feel suspicious; they began to feel concern for their treasured creations which they’d believed were safe in SPR’s care. Our manuscripts are our babies, you see. Some of them have been incubated and tended and nurtured for far longer than nine months. They are pieces of our soul which we bravely put on display for total strangers to reflect on and dissect. It takes great courage to allow another to have control over the products of our love and labor, and when we suddenly distrust what manner of care they might receive, our first inclination is to snatch them back from the babysitter and hustle them home. Some of the writers here on SPR wanted to do exactly that.
But I have faith that all will be well. That SPR will not disappoint, and that the members will make this a site like none other; a leader in its class. Perhaps it will even have a class all its own! I’ve spent a bit of time here, watching from the sidelines. I’ve found owners who are friendly, honest and just. Authors who are gifted and kind and funny. A moderator who is a combination of wise old man and mischievous little boy—irresistible, really. And I think newcomers will see the same thing I do. I think they will realize that Slush Pile Readers is not a site that caters to misbehavior or manipulation, but rather, it is a site that is dedicated to finding the diamonds in the rough. The people who work behind and in front of the scenes–the owners, the designers, the technical crew and the moderator– are all in this for the same reason: to see that the best we have to offer is given a shot at greatness… a shot we might not have had if it wasn’t for their vision and hard work. I’m convinced; we’re in good hands.
So sit back, grab a book and relax. Enjoy the ride and watch as Slush Pile Reader makes its mark on the literary world. We can’t all be the authors of the chosen few, but we can help make history.
And we can have a website we are proud to be members of; where we can play fairly, where we can help our fellow writers, and where we can learn from them at the same time. This is our chance to be in on the ground floor of an awesome innovation. Let’s help SPR maintain the standards they aspire to.
/Karen Bessey Pease
I was led, kicking and screaming, to Slush Pile Reader by my pal Jack, an exceptional writer who has been beaten up by the publishing industry, but who has never given up hope; never stopped believing in himself. I hated the idea of joining the site, because I’ve survived such an experience before; survived it, but just barely. The scars are still fading.
But if Jack wanted me to give it a try, I was game. He’s never led me astray yet, and besides, I wanted the chance for a little healthy competition with him. He thinks he’s smarter than I am, you see… and I wanted just one more chance to prove him wrong. Surely, forty-seven would be my lucky number!
My biggest concern was that SPR would be another site where ethics seemed to be the exception, rather than the norm. I’d watched from the sidelines on the other authors’ website; watched as the premise upon which the site had been created was corrupted by those authors who were so covetous of the exalted spot on the Editor’s Desk that they stopped playing by the unspoken rules and began to create their own.
Most common among the misuses of the site’s ranking system was the ‘swap-read’. An author would back another’s manuscript in exchange for the return favor. Sometimes they would give the first chapter or two a cursory read, and leave a short comment a sentence or two in length—but that was it. No book can be fairly judged by its first chapter, and no short and succinct comment can possibly aid an author in improving his or her craft. Nonetheless, manuscripts began rising rapidly through the ranks; often, without merit. When authors swapped favors by backing each other’s books, some very well-written and spell-binding manuscripts written by authors who would not ‘play the game’ were left behind. I do not believe that is what the website’s creators were hoping for. I believe they were honestly looking for le crème de la crème and not simply those novels whose authors were adept at manipulating the ranking system.
So I arrived at Slush Pile Reader full of skepticism and mistrust. I was ready to be disappointed in human nature, once again. I craved integrity in my fellow authors. I wanted to believe that these writers shared the same values, and that they honestly wouldn’t want to rise to the #1 spot unless the readers on the site honestly and truly found their story to be a cut above the rest. After all, if we didn’t want that affirmation, why wouldn’t we have simply self-published our manuscripts?
It took me less than a day to realize that SPR was not that ‘other’ site. That it was populated by honest and ethical and talented authors and caring creators and staff. I was given a poke by Saint, who asked if I would like to join him in a game of Writers’ Tag! (He’d already struck out when asking me to play Spin the Bottle, and I admired his bravery at returning to me, hat in hand.) So I climbed aboard Train of Thought and I met KJ and Alexie. Johanna and Pascal and later, Rod. Each fun-loving, fair, generous and kind. The walls began to come down, and the ice began to melt around my heart. Slush Pile Reader felt like home.
There were some worries among the authors here when there seemed to be a sudden, mass migration to SPR of authors from the ‘other’ site. Otherwise serene writers became tense. They began to feel suspicious; they began to feel concern for their treasured creations which they’d believed were safe in SPR’s care. Our manuscripts are our babies, you see. Some of them have been incubated and tended and nurtured for far longer than nine months. They are pieces of our soul which we bravely put on display for total strangers to reflect on and dissect. It takes great courage to allow another to have control over the products of our love and labor, and when we suddenly distrust what manner of care they might receive, our first inclination is to snatch them back from the babysitter and hustle them home. Some of the writers here on SPR wanted to do exactly that.
But I have faith that all will be well. That SPR will not disappoint, and that the members will make this a site like none other; a leader in its class. Perhaps it will even have a class all its own! I’ve spent a bit of time here, watching from the sidelines. I’ve found owners who are friendly, honest and just. Authors who are gifted and kind and funny. A moderator who is a combination of wise old man and mischievous little boy—irresistible, really. And I think newcomers will see the same thing I do. I think they will realize that Slush Pile Readers is not a site that caters to misbehavior or manipulation, but rather, it is a site that is dedicated to finding the diamonds in the rough. The people who work behind and in front of the scenes–the owners, the designers, the technical crew and the moderator– are all in this for the same reason: to see that the best we have to offer is given a shot at greatness… a shot we might not have had if it wasn’t for their vision and hard work. I’m convinced; we’re in good hands.
So sit back, grab a book and relax. Enjoy the ride and watch as Slush Pile Reader makes its mark on the literary world. We can’t all be the authors of the chosen few, but we can help make history.
And we can have a website we are proud to be members of; where we can play fairly, where we can help our fellow writers, and where we can learn from them at the same time. This is our chance to be in on the ground floor of an awesome innovation. Let’s help SPR maintain the standards they aspire to.
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