Swimming Through That Slush

Oh, and since I was talking about Chronicle Books in my previous post, I thought I'd mention them again, for good measure. They've got a great blog you should check out, which talks about their most recent funky books, and sometimes they venture into some very interesting subjects, such as how their editors deal with the many submissions that they get from all over the world.

Lisa Campbell, an Associate Editor at Chronicle has recently written two very helpful posts for those folks considering submitting a book idea to Chronicle Books. Her first blog entry, written not long after Christmas, is entitled The Grinch Who Opens Your Book Proposal. Ms. Campbell basically writes out a list of all the annoying things that people have done in the past, as a warning to others not to repeat the same mistake, because as we all know (for those who want to be published) you don't ever want to piss off an editor. Kiss of Death. For example, Ms. Campbell suggests that it is not really a good idea to put food samples inside your cookbook proposals:

They almost never travel well…crumbs everywhere. (Plus, taking candy from strangers seems like a bad idea, even though we realize it makes no sense to poison the person you’re trying to woo.)

Good advice, I would think.

In Ms. Campbell's next post on submitting to Chronicle, Skiing Slush Mountain, she gets delves into what she calls her Philosophy of Slush – key concepts which will hopefully guide prospective creators on to a successful publishing path. For example, it's important to have a good base knowledge of who the audience is for your book submission:

When the author says that their book appeals to “everyone” or “everyone who watches Oprah,” I am skeptical. Not even the Bible is for everyone and that’s the biggest selling book of all time! Think it over and give me information I can use. If your book actually only appeals to 20-something urbanites, Don Rickles fans, or suburban moms of teenagers, that’s still a whole lot of people. It’s often easier to publish successfully to a smaller, specific audience–just look at our publishing to see what I mean.

Some very helpful stuff, which could be applicable in many publishing houses, not just one that specializes in art and gift books.

So get going and create some high quality slush!

Comments

[Beth]

Great info to post. Nothing of mine has ever ended up in a slush pile (rejected, yes...) and that's because I took the time to learn how to submit properly!