Manuscript Review Editor, or The Crusher of People's Dreams

When I tell people that I am an editor, the comment that often follows is, "Oh, so you read all day." And I think how lovely it would be to have a job where I was paid to "read all day." It's true, though: the job requires a fair bit of reading. One of the things I spend quite a bit of time reading is manuscript proposals. The publishing house I work for is one of the few that will still accept and respond to unsolicited manuscripts, that is, manuscripts that people just send, either by regular mail or electronically.

On a regular basis, I also review proposals that writers submit to writing services like Christian Manuscript Submissions and Writers Edge. An author pays a fee, and his or her proposal is either posted to a Web site or sent to us in a monthly newsletter. These are both Christian writers' services, so publishing houses like ours, Kregel, Baker, and others subscribe to the service. It's a good way for an author to get his or her manuscript exposed to many publishers without a huge effort.

It's rare to actually find a proposal that makes it past me for further consideration. Because we're so small and publish only about twelve new books a year, we're pretty picky about what we'll consider. I keep a record of my responses to author proposals, and for the past couple of years I've probably sent out about two hundred rejection letters, which makes me the crusher of many writers' dreams.

After doing this task for a little more than four years, I have found that I can usually tell whether something is of interest for us or not within a few lines or paragraphs. There are some definite tell-tale signs that can eliminate a manuscript very quickly. Here are some of the most common:

1. Don't tell me that your manuscript was inspired by God or that you received it from the Holy Spirit.

2. Don't tell me that there are no other books in the whole world like yours or that no one else has ever written on this subject.

3. Don't tell me your book is like Purpose Driven Life, Velvet Elvis, or Blue Like Jazz . One Rick Warren, Rob Bell, or Donald Miller is definitely enough for the publishing world.

4. Don't send me a handwritten proposal on lined notebook paper.

5. Don't misspell a word in your title. (I truly got one of these today.)

While it's a thankless job--writing to people to tell them that we "decline interest in their book"--somebody has to do it. And every once in a great while, I actually discover a good author, which makes the responsibility a lot more interesting.