Is 'stash' the same thing as 'slush'?

pb10220 said:

Yesterday I called the editor who's had my requested proposal/manuscript now for 16 months (after a very enthusiastic and affirming email). Here's the latest: when I asked about its status, I was told that it is "in the stash"...that "we don't want to reject it, but that, for whatever reason, we are not ready to move forward with it yet." This call was a follow-up call from one 3 months ago where I was told it was still "being actively considered."

Is "in the stash" the same as being "in the slushpile"? Have you ever heard of editors sitting on manuscripts for 'whatever reason?'

I have long stopped holding my breath on this one...I'm more just curious, now. (I am no longer content with the MS myself, and am considering how to rewrite it for another publisher.)

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The only time I've heard people use the word stash is in relation to uncontrolled pharmaceuticals, as in, "hey, don't sit there, I have my stash behind that pillow."
I'd move on.

pb10220 said:

Yesterday I called the editor who's had my requested proposal/manuscript now for 16 months (after a very enthusiastic and affirming email). Here's the latest: when I asked about its status, I was told that it is "in the stash"...that "we don't want to reject it, but that, for whatever reason, we are not ready to move forward with it yet." This call was a follow-up call from one 3 months ago where I was told it was still "being actively considered."

Is "in the stash" the same as being "in the slushpile"? Have you ever heard of editors sitting on manuscripts for 'whatever reason?'

I have long stopped holding my breath on this one...I'm more just curious, now. (I am no longer content with the MS myself, and am considering how to rewrite it for another publisher.)

Click to expand...

Usually, no, the stash is not the same thing as the slush. The stash is a better deal. It might be called limbo, the land between the living and the dead. Things come out of the slush, and one of three things happens: 1. It gets rejected. 2. It gets bought. 3. The editor likes it enough to hold onto it, but isn't sure, for one reason or another, whether or not he'll be able to use it.

Some editors say they would like to hold the piece for a while. Others say "It's in the hold file." Still others says, "It's in the stash."

A piece can remmain in the stash for weeks, months, or years, depending on the publication. Most editors tell you to go ahead and submit the piece elsewhere while you're waiting. If you sell it elsewhere, fine. If you don't, tehre's always the chance the editor will pull it out of the stash and use it.

If you do sell it elsewhere, just be sure to notify the editor so he can remove it from the stash.

pb10220 said:

Yesterday I called the editor who's had my requested proposal/manuscript now for 16 months (after a very enthusiastic and affirming email). Here's the latest: when I asked about its status, I was told that it is "in the stash"...that "we don't want to reject it, but that, for whatever reason, we are not ready to move forward with it yet."

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I've never heard of "stash" in this context. Sounds like a term this editor made up.

After 16 months, I think it takes some gall to string you along like this. The advantage is all to them--they don't have to commit, yet they can hold you in reserve just in case they decide they have a hole in their schedule. Meanwhile you wait and twiddle your thumbs for some unknown period of time. I agree with Nomad--I'd move on.

- Victoria

victoriastrauss said:

I've never heard of "stash" in this context. Sounds like a term this editor made up.

After 16 months, I think it takes some gall to string you along like this. The advantage is all to them--they don't have to commit, yet they can hold you in reserve just in case they decide they have a hole in their schedule. Meanwhile you wait and twiddle your thumbs for some unknown period of time. I agree with Nomad--I'd move on.

- Victoria

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I doubt he made it up, if only because I've heard it a few times before with short stories and articles. Never with a novel, but different editors. I just assume it works the same way with novels.

I've found that having editors hold short stories and articles in this manner is pretty common. I've had it happen to me at least fifteen or twenty times over the years. I've also made some pretty decent sales from stories that were held in this manner. The longest I've ever had an editor hold one was two years. . .so long that when an acceptance letter and check finally showed up in the mail I had to check my records to be sure I'd written the story. I actually couldn't remember writing anything and putting that title on it.

But in every case where it's happened to me the editor told me to go ahead and submit the piece to other places while I was waiting.

With short stories and articles, it honestly doesn;t bother me to have an editor hold a piece in this manner, as long as I'm free to submit it elsewhere while waiting. The truth is also that I seldom do submit the piece elsewhere while waiting. I'm in no hurry, and I'm prolific enough with short stories and articles that I'd rather have a piece bought two years down the road by a magazine I really like that have it bought two months down the road by a magazine I'd not as find of.

I do know one writer who had a novel manuscript held for two years by a top publisher before the editor finally decided to buy it. And this writer had a pretty good agent.

It happens. I'm the patient sort, and waiting doesn't bother me. As long as I can keep writign othe rmaterial in the meantime, I have the patience of an oyster.

2 years

Jamesaritchie said:

I do know one writer who had a novel manuscript held for two years by a top publisher before the editor finally decided to buy it. And this writer had a pretty good agent.

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The publishing house "stashed" the novel for TWO years before buying it? Wow.
Is this a somewhat typical
very typical
or
blue-moon
sort-of-thing?

smallthunder said:

The publishing house "stashed" the novel for TWO years before buying it? Wow.
Is this a somewhat typical
very typical
or
blue-moon
sort-of-thing?

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No, it isn't at all typical, thank goodness. But in this case it was a top publisher, the editor really wanted the book, but had real reservations about the book's marketability, as did the acquisition board. So she watched the market until she saw signs that a book of that type could sell reasonably well.

And the writer was busy during this time, and all in all, waiting turned out to be a wise decision.

Stash

pb10220 said:

Interesting--thanks for posting. I just got back from a conference, where an editor of a major publishing house described at breakfast the 3 stacks in every editor's office: the 'slush' (rejections), the 'hot' pile (1-3 things they want to move on right away), and the 'stash' (things they want, but are not ready to move on quite yet for various reasons). This was very enlightening. This editor also requested that I send him the manuscript that was in that publisher's stash --so that was a wonderful breakfast!

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Yes, I think every editor does have a stash pile. Even magazine editors have them. But they don't usually try to hold stash for two years. . .unless the writer or agent never complains about the delay.