November got
off to a good start. I heard that Unreliable Histories had made the list of top
5 novels in 'The Slush Pile' - a new, online
competition that aims to put writers in touch with literary agents across the
world.
It's an
interesting concept - essentially a vetting process that seeks to present beleaguered
agents with a selection of writings that the Slush Pile's editorial team
consider to be the best of the bunch for any given week. In theory, agents can
use it to devote their time more usefully to books that experienced writers
have already judged and deemed worthy of further examination. It's a
no-promises sort of deal but agents are undoubtedly very busy people, so there's
a certain logic underpinning the whole idea.
To any
of my indie author friends out there, might I suggest you give this one a look?
See: http://www.theslush.com.
A basic competition
entry costs nothing and the top five novels are promoted to a list of participating
agents in the UK / US. There are also paid options that promise useful feedback
from the team.
It will be
interesting to see what sort of following the site develops and whether it
provokes any response with respect to Unreliable Histories. It's early days - the site only launched today
(3rd November) - but it's an idea that I hope finds traction.
