101 Reasons to Stop Writing

May is International Slushpile Awareness Month

 
This Month's Demotivator:

Archive for April 17th, 2007

Poll Dancing #4: the Results

As part of International Slushpile Awareness Month, I asked readers their opinions of the slushpile. Kind of an open-ended question, except I supplied the answers. With more answers to choose from, we got a record number of responses, and I think a more representative result.

What do you think of the Slushpile?

  • I hate the name! Call it the Fountain of Undiscovered Genius (3%, 2 Votes)
  • I hate the name! Call it the River of Unreadable Shit (5%, 4 Votes)
  • It’s unfair - books should be selected via Web 2.0 democracy (1%, 1 Votes)
  • It’s unfair - books should be selected via telepathy or nepotism (1%, 1 Votes)
  • It’s a mountain you have to climb to get published (18%, 13 Votes)
  • It’s a mountain you have to mine to find something worth publishing (7%, 5 Votes)
  • I wish agents would make the slushpile their priority (0%, 0 Votes)
  • I wish writers would make grammar their priority (16%, 12 Votes)
  • It’s a conspiracy to silence new and original voices (1%, 1 Votes)
  • It’s an industry-imposed tax on agents (3%, 2 Votes)
  • The system doesn’t always work, but it’s the best we have (19%, 14 Votes)
  • Hey, as long as I don’t have to read it (26%, 19 Votes)

Total Voters: 74

I don’t think I even know 74 people.

Good to see that Meika is still reading. How’s that web 2.0 working for you?

It’s clear from these results that the only winner is ignorance. When you’re not busy pouring more slop on the pile, you’re pretending it’s someone else’s problem. I may have to poll your opinions on recycling and global warming.

This poll has been reopened for voting, so if you haven’t voted already, or want to game the system by voting again, go ahead:

What do you think of the Slushpile?

View Results

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