Rejection Junction
by Hilde Garcia
To drive me crazy? Probably.
Rejection defined:
: to refuse to believe, accept, or consider something, (like my
manuscript)
: to decide not to publish (my MS) because it is not good enough- really?
: to
refuse to allow (me) to join a club (like an agency), etc.
Yet that’s what we authors
do- submit and get rejected.
Day in and day out.
It’s daunting to be
sure. So why do it?
In an article I read in
Psychology Today, Guy Winch discusses 10 surprising facts about rejection. He connects how our psychological well-being
is affected more than just emotionally.
It’s actually affected physically because rejection piggybacks on
physical pain pathways in the brain. (Great article).
I thought, ok, I’m going
to look up that well known story about Dr. Seuss and how many rejections he
had, so I can feel better before I get my next rejection letter.
And I stumbled on the site- LiteraryRejections
WOW.
It’s a list longer than the
state of California. That is what surprised me the most, the sheer amount of
books rejected.
I was blown away by the
books that were initially rejected also, and in every case, so many times! It’s a
miracle the author didn’t stop writing altogether.
The most amazing thing is
that the books rejected are LOVED by everyone else.
But why do we do it? Why
even submit? Surely, we don’t deserve to be the punching bag of someone’s error
in judgment? We can spend our time
doing more positive things like knitting, playing volleyball, or eating cake.
I have no good answer for
you. We do it because we are writers. We are rejected because there are some
people out there who get a hold of our letters first.
How do we ensure our letters
find the right home?
Send it to every darn place on the planet!
Send it to every darn place on the planet!
Have you sent out your query
letter this week?
I did.
Feel free to have a cookie
while you read this.
(I’m only going to highlight
some of the titles from the list.)
Yet in
spite of their phenomenal success, every single one of these best-selling
authors was initially rejected. Literary agents and publishers informed them in an endless stream of
rejection letter that nobody would be interested in reading their book.
Here is
an extensive collection of the some of the biggest errors of judgment in
publishing history.
The
Christopher Little Literary Agency receives 12 publishing
rejections in a row for their new client, until the eight-year-old daughter of
a Bloomsbury editor
demands to read the rest of the book. The editor agrees to publish but advises
the writer to get a day job since she has little chance of making money in
children’s books. Yet Harry
Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling spawns
a series where the last four novels consecutively set records as the
fastest-selling books in history, on both sides of the Atlantic, with combined
sales of 450 million.
If we could only let kids be the editors… after
all, we write for them or for the rest of us who refuse to grow up, like Peter.
“Too different from
other juveniles on the market to warrant its selling.” A rejection letter
sent to Dr Seuss. 300
million sales and the 9th best-selling fiction author of all time.
Obviously,
they didn’t have a clue, huh?
The
years of rejection do not break his spirit. He only becomes more determined to
succeed. When he eventually lands a publishing deal, such is the demand for his
fiction that it is translated into over 47 languages, as The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S.
Lewis goes on to sell over 100 million copies.
Oh my, I wonder what the rejection said. Too
violent? Too fantastical?
After two years of rejections stating that her
fiction would have no readership, Reilly and
Lee agree to publish The One in
the Middle Is the Green Kangaroo, launching the career of
the best-selling author Judy
Blume. Combined sales: 80 million.
Can you imagine a
world without Judy Blume?
“We feel that we don’t
know the central character well enough.” The author does a
rewrite and his protagonist becomes an icon for a generation as The Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger sells 65 million.
Umm, try
reading the book.
5 publishers reject L.M.
Montgomery‘s debut novel. Two years after this rejection,
she removes it from a hatbox and resubmits. L.C. Page & Company agrees to
publish Anne of Green Gables and
it goes on to sell 50 million copies.
I simply do
not have words. As you know Anne is my favorite.
The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter was rejected so many
times she decided to self-publish 250 copies. It has now sold 45 million.
How’s that for chutzpah? And people think self-publishing isn’t worthy. Beatrix set
the standard, indeed.
“The girl doesn’t, it seems to me, have a special
perception or feeling which would lift that book above the ‘curiosity’ level.” Perhaps the most misguided literary critique in history.
With a further 15 rejections, there remained little hope her personal thoughts
would see the light of day. Eventually, Doubleday, bring the translation
to the world, and The Diary of Anne Frank sells 25
million.
This one
left me speechless, the other reason my daughter is named Anne. One of the most powerful books I read
as a child, one that has stayed with me ever since. Who could possibly read it and not see her “special
perception”?
“An irresponsible
holiday story that will never sell.” Rejection of The
Wind In The Willows by Kenneth
Grahame. The novel did sell: 25
million copies worldwide.
I have my
copy!
Despite
14 consecutive agency rejections Stephenie Meyer‘s Twilight goes on to sell 17
million copies and spends 91 weeks on the New York Times best-seller list.
It’s a good thing she went for rejection number
15!
“An absurd and uninteresting fantasy which
was rubbish and dull.” Rejection letter sent to William Golding for The Lord Of The Flies. 15 million
sales.
Required reading
in high school since I went to school but the one book no one had to be forced
to read!
Three
years of rejection letters are kept in a bag under her bed. The bag becomes so
heavy that she is unable to lift it. But Meg Cabot does
not dwell on the failure. Instead she keeps sending out her manuscript. It gets
taken and The Princess Diaries sells
15 million copies.
And I LOVE The Princess Diaries!
“Too radical of a departure from traditional
juvenile literature.” L. Frank Baum persists
and The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz sells
15 million.
Translation- it’s
too weird for kids. No it’s too
weird for the person who said this quote!
26
publishers reject A Wrinkle in
Time. It wins the 1963 Newbery Medal and becomes an
international best-seller. 8 million sales and counting.
HA! I am still
laughing about this one. 26
rejections? I am only on my fifth,
so I have no excuse but to keep going!
“Stick to teaching.” Louisa
May Alcott refuses to give up on her dream. Little Women sells millions,
and is still in print 140 years later. Unlike the name of the publisher who
told her to give up.
Way to go Louisa! As if teachers can’t also write! Sheesh!
Alex
Haley writes for eight years and receives 200 consecutive
rejections. His novel Roots becomes
a publishing sensation, selling 1.5 million copies in its first seven months of
release, and going on to sell 8 million. Such is the success that The
Pulitzer Prize award the novel a Special Citation in 1977.
Although this one is not children’s
literature, I had to include it because it’s one of my favorite novels, and
because 200 is an insane number of rejections. Are there even that many
agencies? Alex Haley did not stop!
And the world is lucky for his perseverance!
