Not that it contradicts your point, but publishers don't have slush piles anymore. Agents have slush piles, and if you somehow get through that to be represente

Not that it contradicts your point, but publishers don't have slush piles anymore. Agents have slush piles, and if you somehow get through that to be represented by an agent, then you go through the submission process at publishing houses. As someone who's in the middle of it right now, I keep being surprised by how much more work there is to do, even on a "polished" manuscript. It's a long process and I'm not surprised most people don't have the stamina to get through it.