19 Lisa Mangum: Slush Pile Dos and Donts

Lisa Mangum was our first editor guest. That's okay, though, because she's also the award-winning author of THE HOURGLASS DOOR, THE GOLDEN SPIRAL, and THE FORGOTTEN LOCKET. We talked to her tonight about her decade wading through the slush pile for Deseret Book and Shadow Mountain, where she still works as an Assistant Editor (with her own Editor's Assistant!).

She broke her advice down into ten simple tips regarding what we can and can't control about the publishing industry:

Five Things You CAN'T Control:

1. Publishing is a Business

• Publishers want a book they can sell to hundreds of thousands of people--not just your mother and your neighbor
• Authors who aren't willing to be business-like make it easier for the publisher to take a pass on their book

The number of manuscripts submitted in a given year

• At Deseret Book, out of over 2000 yearly submissions, they will only publish around four
• 80% of those submissions aren't ready for publication
• 30-40% of those that aren't ready didn't follow the guidelines

The number of available slots a publisher has for new writers

• Lisa has seen a debut author published every year she has worked for Deseret Book
• If a publisher doesn't have room for a book, they can't publish it even if they love it

Other submitted manuscripts that are similar to yours

• If they get four books on Themes in the Book of Revelation, they can only publish one
• They will publish the one that they like best

An editor's mood

• Lisa tries to do her critical work in the morning or after lunch
• Don't put the editor in a bad mood by making your manuscript hard to get to