Slushpile

Free tools for writers

Five small, browser-only tools for the practical parts of getting work out the door. Nothing you enter is uploaded or stored on a server. No signup. No ads inside the tools themselves — just the tool.

Submission Tracker

Log every query and submission. Track status, see response rates, and know at a glance which agents have had the pages for three months and counting. Data is saved in your browser's localStorage.

Word Counter

Words, characters, paragraphs, sentences, average sentence length, and an estimated page count (using standard 250-words-per-page manuscript counts). Paste text, read results.

Reading Time Estimator

Estimate silent-reading time and read-aloud time for any text. Useful for bookstore readings, podcast submissions, Open Mic slots, and judging whether a piece fits a reading deadline.

Shunn Format Checklist

A running checklist for the William Shunn standard manuscript format most literary magazines expect for short-story submissions, with the header and slug conventions spelled out.

Query Letter Builder

Fill in the fields — book title, word count, genre, hook, comp titles, bio — and the tool assembles a correctly structured query letter you can copy into an email.

Why browser-only?

A server would mean accounts, logins, password resets, and a database full of half-finished query letters. None of that makes the tools better; it just gives everyone — including us — more to worry about. The entire site is static HTML, CSS, and a few kilobytes of JavaScript. The tracker's data is yours: it lives in your browser, and you can clear it or export it at any time.

The trade-off is that data stays on the device you entered it on. If you use Slushpile at a desk and at a laptop, you will have two separate trackers. For many writers that's actually fine — the tracker is a working document, not an archive.

Which guide pairs with which tool