Tips from "The First Five Pages"

I heard somewhere of Noah Lukeman's The First Five Pages so when I saw it on the library shelf I grabbed it. And yesterday during 40+ degree heat, I devoured it. Full of really useful advice, it's an editor's viewpoint on what gets a novel rejected - with tips on how to avoid this, of course.

And so that I don't forget, here are the most important things I should remember:

• When it's time to send a book proposal to an editor, research the publishing house carefully by checking for similar style novels: and mention this in your covering letter.
• I can't hear this often enough: use less adjectives and adverbs. Use stronger verbs and nouns instead.
• Read some poetry to get a sense of the sound of language. Read your manuscript aloud or get others to read it. (I read a tip on this somewhere, to get this monotonous internet voice to read it for you, at ReadPlease.)
• Dialogue dangers: not enough attributives, too many attributives ("he said"), too much interruption, too much dialogue without interruption, too commonplace ("I'll have two sugars in my coffee please") ...
• Avoid dialect (not that I need to remember this, but I wish Irvine Welsh could remember this, so I wouldn't have to give up his novels because I can't follow the Scottish dialect)
• Show don't tell: the most often given advice, but still a good reminder.
  
• And stacks of other little tips: I must re-read this when I finally have a novel to edit.