Challenge
As an independent publisher, Collective Ink receives a high volume of unsolicited submissions year-round. For a small editorial team, manually reviewing every cover letter and manuscript excerpt was unsustainable. According to Vicky Hartley, the process often led to snap decisions based on superficial indicators, risking the rejection of high-potential titles due to limited editorial bandwidth.
"Our slush pile is constantly being filled up. It's open all the time. We just didn't have the capacity to give every manuscript the time it deserved." — Vicky Hartley
Solution
Collective Ink implemented the Storywise platform to streamline its acquisitions process. With built-in editorial grading, marketability assessments, and AI-generated synopses, Storywise provided editors with rich, structured insights at the earliest stage of evaluation.
"Storywise gives you everything you need in that initial evaluation stage—editorial analysis, synopsis generation, market fit. It's very easy to use and was easy to adapt to." — Vicky Hartley
Key Features
Editorial Grading & Analysis
In the active acquisitions phase, Storywise analyzes each manuscript and delivers an editorial grade broken down into key areas. This helped Hartley's team quickly gauge a submission's strengths and weaknesses. This granular insight meant editors could assess quality and market fit at a glance, focusing their time only on manuscripts with potential.
"It's definitely been the editorial grading and the ability to see [the manuscript] broken down into different areas… to really understand if it was too niche, too hard to read, how market-compatible it was," — Vicky Hartley
Synopsis Generation
For manuscripts that passed initial screening, Storywise could instantly generate a succinct synopsis, for both fiction and nonfiction works. This proved invaluable in later stages. Instead of spending hours crafting summaries, editors could use Storywise's synopsis as a starting point and then tweak it as needed. This not only saved time but also ensured consistency and clarity when presenting titles to acquisition meetings or sales teams.
"The ability to generate the synopsis… is great because that's a chunk of work you don't have to do" — Vicky Hartley
Results
Increased Selectivity & Discovery
Storywise enabled the team to surface high-quality manuscripts that might have otherwise been overlooked. Instead of relying solely on first impressions, editors now have access to deeper manuscript insights, leading to more informed decisions and higher-quality shortlists.
"There's definitely been a shift. We're rejecting fewer books at the wrong stage, and the ones that do get through are better suited and more likely to result in a contract." — Vicky Hartley
Higher Quality Pipeline
Because Storywise flags only the most promising manuscripts for human follow-up, Hartley is forwarding fewer but higher-quality projects to the next stage. In short, the conversion from proposals to signed authors improved, as fewer weak submissions slip through. Her team can concentrate resources on manuscripts with real potential.
"I'm putting through fewer books to the next stage… only books that we feel are already editorially up to par. So there's probably a better rate of proposal-to-contract offers than before." — Vicky Hartley
Boosted Productivity
With the efficiency gains, Watkins has gained the confidence to open up its submissions process more broadly. Handling the slush pile is no longer daunting.
"It's really a useful tool. It will save time if you deal with a lot of acquisitions, if you deal with a lot of inquiries." — Vicky Hartley
Successful Discoveries
Among the titles surfaced through Storywise was a recently published fiction title that sold hundreds of copies in its first few weeks —a standout result for Collective Ink's fiction list. Vicky noted another example:
"It did really well, and we found it through Storywise. I'm not sure it would've made it through our previous system." — Vicky Hartley
Excellent Support
Vicky praised Storywise's responsiveness and openness to feedback. Throughout adoption, any technical issues or feature requests were handled promptly. The Storywise team was always willing to incorporate Hartley's suggestions into updates. This responsive partnership gave Watkins additional confidence in the product.
"You guys have been very good… I can't think of anything we needed that you haven't addressed really quickly." — Vicky Hartley
Final Word
When asked what she'd tell other publishers considering Storywise, Vicky stressed that Storywise offers "a lot of excellent additional things" — from market insights to content summaries — that make handling large volumes of submissions feasible and fruitful. In Hartley's experience, it has turned the slush pile from a dreaded chore into a valuable resource for finding quality authors.
"Storywise is an incredibly helpful tool. It helps navigate what can otherwise be a very messy process. And it gives you confidence, even when a submission sits just outside your usual genre." — Vicky Hartley
