Viva la slush

The joys of reading submissions

One of my first industry jobs was at Text Publishing in Melbourne, sitting on their reception desk. Unsolicited submissions – books not sent by an agent, aka the slush pile – were my responsibility. At that time, Text only took hard-copy submissions, so manuscripts would come in with the post every day, normally at least three or four, heavy brick-like things that would go straight into a tub ready for Friday afternoon reading.

Slush reading was the last activity of the week, often supplemented by a few bags of lollies. I was told at one of the early meetings that Text had only picked up one book from slush in TEN YEARS. I wonder now if I’ve misremembered. Surely it couldn’t have been so long? But the chances were decidedly thin.

Fast forward another ten years (plus a few more), and Em and I have our own slush pile to take care of. We get submissions electronically, another dropping into our inbox every day or two to be filed away ready for reading. We don’t get to the reading weekly – we don’t even get to it monthly. But when we do there are always, always gems. Not all books for Pink Shorts, but if we read something and immediately think it would be perfect for another publisher, we let the author know.

This week we signed a contract for the seventh book we’ve found through our submissions portal. Some of the authors were known to us before they submitted, some of them not. We love getting submissions from agents, don’t get us wrong, but it’s wonderful when an author has considered their options and come to us directly.

All of this to say: we heart slush. Even without lollies. We wish we could get to the reading more often – apologies for the delay – but we’re constantly delighted by the work we get to look at.

Margot

PS: Our September titles have officially arrived. Pre-order now and we’ll start sending out early copies in a week or so! We’ll also be launching all four titles with a party at Adelaide Arcade on 3 September. Come along.

Not all pink

• Emily inhaled The Treasure House, coming in September from local legend Amy Matthews. Delicious.

• Margot has been laid low with all the winter lurgies and hasn’t read a thing. Her partner Joshua recommends On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers. It has pirates.

Some fun shorts

• Two pieces that may get you down but are worth it: Honey, We Bought an AI Story (title too good not to use) and how creatives often feel Qualified for Nothing.

• Two pieces that are also sort of downers but quite fun: vote on some good (?) writing and consider some bad (?) non-fiction.

• Margot has been part of a project since 2023 to interview late-career editors – it’s finally live! Find it here.

Behind the press

• Olivia De Zilva’s Sick Note got its first review and it’s so great when a reviewer just absolutely gets it, perhaps especially on a poetry collection.

• Emily’s headed to Melbourne with Maddy Sexton from Wakefield Press to chat SA books at the APA BookUp Conference, including a meeting with the Independent Publishers Committee. She’s preparing to have many chats about AI.

• Our bookshop crawl through the city with the wonderful Sophie (aka The Streets of Adelaide) booked out in a few short hours. We’ll have to do another one soon.

In real life

• August is SALA month, and this year we’re very excited to have our friend (and past Wakefield Press colleague) Ayesha Aggarwal turning our space into a flower-filled delight. Find out more and register for events here.

• After launching Ayesha’s exhibition, Pearls author Tracy Crisp is off on a big Victorian library tour in August. Find out more on her website.

• Join the one and only Stavroula Adameitis aka Frida Las Vegas for a special Australianarama launch on 5 September in Adelaide, with Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane events all to be announced.