Pat Walsh Interview on Powell’s

While we’re talking about Powell’s… the bookstore posted an interview with Slushpile favorite Pat Walsh. Longtime readers of Slushpile know my reverance and gratitude for Walsh’s book, (except the title which drives me batty typing it) 78 Reasons Why Your Book May Never Be Published and 14 Reasons Why It Just Might. In the Powell’s interview, the editor/writer keeps the cold hard truths of writing and editing coming. Walsh talks about cover letters and how people tell him their submission was rejected and the manuscript wasn’t even read. “My first thought is, ‘Then the cover letter is the problem.’ I often say that cover letters should take ten to twenty hours of solid work. It should be damn perfect. And it should come across as if it took you ten minutes. It is your face on the first date. It is all in that first impression.”

Read the Powell’s interview here. And while you’re at it, revist our own interview with Walsh and my PopMatters review of 78 Reasons.