Recently I sent a query letter to an agent in the United States. This was a big step for me. After all, my (now-famous) 35 rejection letters from British agents led to my self-publishing adventure. My book The Secret of the Sacred Scarab went on to win several (quite prestigious, I think) awards and I signed a movie option in 2011 with a British film company. Back to the US agent. He said no. That’s right. No. Actually it was a charming email saying the usual sugar-coated stuff that makes you want to go to hell with your eyes open and enjoy the trip, but it was still a no. How could that be, I wondered. I read very carefully the must-have list of requirements and I was positive my book fitted his bill exactly. Apparently not. So what, I wonder, do agents and publishers want? I was fortunate enough to win a signed copy of The Help by Kathryn Stockett through Penguin SA and it reminded me that the author had been rejected 60 times. Yet here she was, at last, published with her book turned into a film. I needn’t even cite JK Rowling and Harry Potter, except that (I hope this is not an urban legend) I read somewhere that the only reason Bloomsbury said yes was because the director’s 12-year-old child loved it and asked her father to publish it. It sounds true and it’s a sweet story anyway. Again, I ask myself, how did people miss the clues? How come agents and publishers are still missing the clues? Need I mention Amanda Hocking? I have decided that this is part of a process that will never be changed. A new writer is rejected; someone sees the light and publishes him/her; everyone throws up their hands and squeals, “How did we miss this gem?” Some happy thoughts below from Writer’s Relief, in case you think you’re the only one who has ever had a rejection letter. You’re in good company!
Many new or mid-level writers have received nasty or rude rejection letters. But when famous author rejection letters come to light, people laugh and say “What were those editors (or literary agents) thinking?” Many big names faced the same kind of adversity (and even hostility) in rejection letters that you may be facing now. Famous author rejection letters teach us a lot!
When you get a harsh rejection letter, keep these famous author rejections in mind.
Happens To the Best of Us: Famous Author Rejection Letters
Check out these excerpts from REAL famous author rejections:
1. Sylvia Plath: There certainly isn’t enough genuine talent for us to take notice.
3. J. G. Ballard: The author of this book is beyond psychiatric help.
4. Emily Dickinson: [Your poems] are quite as remarkable for defects as for beauties and are generally devoid of true poetical qualities.
5. Ernest Hemingway (regarding The Torrents of Spring): It would be extremely rotten taste, to say nothing of being horribly cruel, should we want to publish it.
Obviously, these famous author rejection letter phrases have gone down in history for how outrageous they seem to us now. The comments probably had more to do with the mood of the person writing them than with the quality of work. It seems odd to us now that Plath, Kipling, Ballard, Dickinson, and Hemingway were rejected so cruelly. But these comments show us that famous author rejection letters are no different than not-so-famous author rejection letters! Thank goodness these authors kept writing and submitting. Ask yourself: Where would we be if they had given up? We would have missed a lot of important literature!
Famous Author Rejections: Hitting a Dry Spell
Feel glum over oodles of rejection letters? Please note that the examples below are often referenced and we’ve done quite a lot of research, but as with so many things, there’s always a chance for error. Do not cite this article for your academic thesis! Go to the original sources.
1. John Grisham’s first novel was rejected 25 times.
2. Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen (Chicken Soup for the Soul) received 134 rejections.
3. Beatrix Potter had so much trouble publishing The Tale of Peter Rabbit, she initially had to self-publish it.
5. Gertrude Stein spent 22 years submitting before getting a single poem accepted.
6. Judy Blume, beloved by children everywhere, received rejections for two straight years.
7. Madeline L’Engle received 26 rejections before getting A Wrinkle in Time published—which went on to win the Newberry Medal and become one of the best-selling children’s books of all time.
8. Frank Herbert’s Dune was rejected 20 times before being published and becoming a cult classic.
9. Stephen King received dozens of rejections for Carrie before it was published (and made into a movie!).
The Most Rejected Novelist in History?
Author Dick Wimmer passed away on May 18, 2011, at 74 years old. He received 160+ rejections over 25 years! He spent a quarter of a century being told “no.” He could have quit after 20 years, or 150 rejections, and no one would have blamed him. But he kept at it (maybe he had his own list of famous author rejection letters to keep him going!). Finally, his novel Irish Wine (Mercury House, 1989) was published to positive reviews. The New York Times called it a “taut, finely written, exhaustingly exuberant first novel.”
Assuming the author’s submissions were well-targeted, how could 160+ people have passed over Wimmer’s book? And what does that mean for YOUR writing career? Wimmer’s self-proclaimed legacy is of being the “most rejected novelist,” but we think his legacy is hope and persistence.
What’s Your Rejection Letter Threshold?
Famous author rejection letters teach us that there are lots of reasons why great works do not get chosen for publication right away (or after 25 years!). But there is only one way to get published: submit, submit, submit!
Writer’s Relief (est. 1994) is a highly recommended author submission service. Check out their free publishing leads, calls for submissions, and tips! This article was originally published at the following URL: http://www.writersrelief.com/blog/2011/07/famous-author-rejection-letters/
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