slush pile

American  

noun

Informal.

1. a collection of unsolicited manuscripts submitted to a publisher.

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Example Sentences

It was rescued from the slush pile.

From Salon

But the aforementioned old boys’ club of publishing keeps her in her place, fetching coffee and taking minutes for meetings — when she’s allowed into them — despite pulling Collins’ “The World Is Full of Married Men” from the slush pile and helping make it a success.

From Los Angeles Times

If someone pitched that story it would likely be thrown in the slush pile as hack work.

From Salon

And the machines are already nibbling around the edges of my profession: Reuters reports that AI-generated books are popping up on Amazon, while the science-fiction magazine Clarkesworld just announced that it would temporarily close submissions because the slush pile was overwhelmed with machine-manufactured dreck.

From Washington Post

Most reputable agents receive hundreds, if not thousands, of unsolicited pitch letters a year — the part of their inbox known as the “slush pile.”

From New York Times