View From the Other Side of the Slush Pile

So I slush read for two spec fiction magazines and have done so prior for one other. Without divulging anything sensitive or non-public, I thought it might be interesting to people to hear at least a little about what being a slush reader is like.

• Slush piles are different. Editors are different. Processes are different. That’s to say, if you’ve slushed for one magazine you know how it’s done at that magazine – and that’s it. The extent of variation between my roles on different magazines, despite the same title as ‘slush reader’ has surprised me.
• However, one thing has been constant – I, the other slush readers/first readers, associate or full editors all seem to have one thing in common. We want your story to be the one. Every time I open a slush pile entry, I’m hoping this will be a story I can rave about. One I will think about for days to come. One I will see in print. We’re mostly writers ourselves, and believe it or not, we understand what you are going through, that this is your baby, and we are on your side.
• That being said, we are also as a team reading a lot of stories and we cannot pick them all. We have to somehow pick only a very few (and as a slush reader we’re often only one voice voting, not actually ‘picking’). If you want to get a snapshot of the volume we’re talking about here, Haven spec recently published some of their stats on Twitter/X (I don’t slush read for Haven, but as their info is public I am quoting it)

This is the reality. In 2024 they got 1450 submissions and published 30 of them.

• Some writer friends have said to me things along the lines of “Yeah, but I hear if it’s even a complete story and you follow the submission guidelines you’re already better than half the slush pile.”. I bring this up as I’ve heard it multiple times and I don’t know what the origin of that is, but I will say from my experience that’s an urban myth. Sure, there’s a couple of wild cards in there. But I would say fully 95% of the slush pile, maybe more, are good stories. Well written, properly formatted, well structured stories. If you use the numbers above from Haven that still means 1378 good solid stories from which they need to pick 30.
• And that means (a) don’t believe the rejection. I don’t mean email the editor and tell them they’re wrong. I mean, if you end up with a rejection letter don’t believe it says anything about you, or that it was personal, or that they didn’t like your story. There have been tonnes of stories I have liked, some even loved, that have not ended up being accepted. Because the volume and quality is high and it’s also about fit. It also means (b) really polish your piece before you send it. Make sure it is absolutely your best work, your critique partners have looked over it multiple times and you have worked it till it shines. I’m not talking about typos. Try to avoid them but they won’t kill your chances – Shakespeare with typos is still Shakespeare and it will be seen – but at the same time even Shakespeare had different drafts. Don’t send an early draft.

Anyway, there’s a lot more I could say, but I think that’s enough for one blog post. I hope it’s helpful or at least interesting. As always, suggestions, questions and feedback welcome in the comment box below, and let me know if this was interesting so I know whether to do a followup!