Saving the slush pile: The importance of unsolicited manuscript submission policies for the continued strength of the Canadian publishing industry

Harbour Publishing and Douglas & McIntyre are two Canadian independent publishers that accept unsolicited submissions, which means that anyone, anywhere, can submit a manuscript for their publishing consideration without going through a literary agent or internal referral. On the surface, independent publishing house policies that allow unsolicited submissions may appear to be an inefficient and time-consuming practice; however, this report will analyze such policies and argue that their benefits outweigh the drawbacks. Unsolicited manuscript policies protect authors and provide them with increased agency, benefit publishing houses by introducing a greater depth and variety of manuscripts, and strengthen the entire Canadian publishing industry with increased mobility and creating more space for books written by and for Canadians.