SOMETHING NASTY IN THE SLUSHPILE
Book ID/图书代码： 04850914B75218
English Summary/英文概要： Most publishers keep a "slushpile" - the stack of unsolicited manuscripts which contains a large percentage of preposterous or frightening book proposals, which might just conceal that one jewel of a bestseller or classic novel lying near the bottom. Authors discovered via the slush pile include Roddy Doyle, J. K. Rowling and Philip Roth. Stephenie Meyer sent 15 query letters about her teenage-vampire saga and got nearly 10 rejection letters; one even arrived after she signed with an agent and received a three-book deal from Little, Brown. Kathryn Stockett’s The Help was turned down 60 times over 31/2 years before becoming a best seller. Sadly though, these are the exceptions...Written by a reader with over a decade of slush pile experience, Something Nasty in the Slushpile takes a tour through the ’do’s and ’don’t’s of book proposal, including many examples of hilarious, misguided and plain weird approaches. The contents include: Offputing greetings: Dear honourable reader, dear potential agent, friend and colleague, dear colleagues etc. Famous first lines: After ten books of criticism, I am turning my attention to a subject close to my heart, the illustrated story of my own life ...I don’t really need to explain ...it would make this letter too long Firstly may I apologise for not getting this to you sooner after our conversation last week, however an unexpected funeral cropped up. Someone is killing literary agents ...I would have e-mailed you, but I am not allowed access to such facilities as I have just been sectioned. I should be out soon. Barmy USPs: It’s like a British male version of Eat, Pray, Love. But less shrill and more believable. There are echoes of Paul Theroux and parallels with The Alchemist and Siddhartha My book is just about me, just an ordinary ’Jo Bloggs’ chipping away relentlessly at the big roadblocks put in my way ...I want 10,000 people to be reading my book at the same time all over the world. I want the light to go on for them, the penny to drop and the wheel of change to start turning ...One person can make a difference and I want that person to be me. How not to respond to constructive criticism: Dear so-called publisher...I have shown my manuscript to my spiritual guide and he agrees that you are utterly wrong. ..
Chinese Summary/中文概要： 很多编辑都有个废稿堆——一堆主动发来的稿件，绝大多数还是荒谬或恐怖书的推荐，但也没准就在这废稿底下，隐藏着一本珍贵的畅销书或者经典小说。
作者发现，这些废稿中曾经出现过罗迪•道尔，J•K•罗琳和菲利普•罗斯。史蒂芬妮•梅耶曾发了15封询问关于自己青年吸血鬼故事情况的函件，得到了近10封回绝信，甚至于其中一封寄到时，她才和小布朗出版社签下了三本书的合约。凯瑟琳•斯多科特的The Help畅销之前的三年半时间里，被拒绝了60次。
不幸的是，这些人仅仅是特例。
阅读废稿长达十余年，作者写成此书，经历了图书出版的各种滑稽，让人迷茫的和极度怪诞的规则
书摘：
尴尬的致意：亲爱的，尊敬的读者，亲爱的未曾谋面的代理商，未能谋面的朋友们和同事们……亲爱的同事们，等等。
著名的开篇：十本书都被狂批之后，我的精力就放在了最合心的题目上——对我本人生活的介绍，我就不再解释原因，不然就这段话就太长了。首先请允许我道个歉，本来要在上周我们聊天之后就该给你们看的，不过突然有个葬礼要参加。有人杀了文稿代理人，又准备要给你们发个邮件，可惜我被逮捕了，没权利这么做。不过我应该很快就能出来。
卖点：一个英国男人对饮食，祈祷和爱的品味，少了些许聒噪，多了点可信。
保罗•泰鲁也会认同，我跟炼金术师和乔达摩•悉达多没法比，该书写的仅仅是我自己，一个普普通通的人，无情地一点点地敲掉挡在路上的大块头绊脚石。我希望全世界能有一万人同时在看我的书。我希望能给他们带去曙光，希望能有个硬币施舍下来，希望命运之轮为你转变。若有一人能改变点什么，希望那个人是我。
怎么才能忽略那些冠冕堂皇的批判：亲爱的——就叫你们出版商吧——我的魂灵已经看了我的稿子，他说你错了，错的一点渣儿都没剩下。（LNL）
Awards/获奖情况：You ll find gold dust in this book ... A sniggeringly funny look at the way some people approach publishers ... [and] a bible of what not to do if you re serious about being the next J.K. Rowling.(The Bookbag The Bookbag) --The Bookbag
About the Author/作者介绍： 萨米•卢克，名字起的恰如其分的康斯特布尔出版社审稿人，1923年进入该出版社，一呆就是40年。辨认卢克看过了哪些稿子很容易，因为那些页子总是整整齐齐的粘好的，何况他还有个边看边吃鱼酱三明治的嗜好。萨米成了本书作者所选笔名。
Sammy Looker, the aptly named reader at Constable, joined the firm in 1923 and was still there 40 years later. It was always possible to tell when a manuscript had been read by Looker as the pages tended to stick together, given Looker’s tendency to eat fishpaste sandwiches while reading. The author of Something Nasty in the Slush Pile has chosen to use Sammy’s name as a nom de plume.
Format:
Rights Status/版权销售情况：Simplified Chinese/简体中文：AVAILABLE
Complex/Traditional Chinese/繁体中文：AVAILABLE
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