11 Famous Writers Who Were Rejected Before Making It Big

A great post to remind us to keep going. Thanks.

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Damn! And I was in a fantasy where people would write, ‘Can you believe DOT’s work was turned down six, yes, SIX times before he got published.’

So I guess your advice is for wannabes to accumulate as many rejections as possible early on to hasten the eventual arrival of the acceptance letter. Perhaps I should be mailing out a hundred letters at a time.

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Brilliant! Should be printed out and pasted above every submitting-wannabe-published-writer’s desk!

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Shared. Thank you.
 

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If ever there were words of encouragement for us struggling authors, it’s that list. Thanks for sharing!

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If ever there were words of encouragement for struggling authors, it’s that list. Thanks for sharing!

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So true. Editors’ and publishers’ opinions, sometimes proferred as the gospel truth, are entirely subjective. The only opinion that should matter to any of us is our opinion of ourselves. The joy of writing is in the process, not the result. To expect satisfaction from publiction is a premeditated resentment.

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Greatly encouraging.  Thanks for sharing.

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‘Twould be interesting to see the marketing plans and sales stats for each of those eleven. How much time was required for each to capture an audience and become a best-seller? And how did each become widely known?

Is also a good heads-up for publishing professionals. Genuine gems are passed over due to haste, nescience, or lack of thoughtful consideration.

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Can’t leave out James Joyce’s novels as well! Rejected by all but a small-time book shop publisher in France!

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Think I’ll dust off my query letter tonight..

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And just think about how many times Harry Potter was rejected.. 

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Some of these made me laugh out loud, and most made me feel very grateful these amazing authors didn’t give into the criticism but kept at it so we could all enjoy their writings!

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Don’t forget JK Rowling — Harry Potter was turned down by 17 publishers. Imagine how they feel now.

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Vivi-dragon Reply:
December 1st, 2011 at 1:07 am

so true and look at her now shes one of the riches women in the world

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Crowley Reply:
December 5th, 2011 at 6:55 pm

I think she IS the richest woman in the world. Definitely the richest author.

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Mdfbianchi Reply:
December 25th, 2011 at 3:21 pm

Oprah is actually the richest woman in the world.

nordie Reply:
December 5th, 2011 at 8:23 pm

And the girl who did “find” her did it by sheer fluke. She was working in an agent’s office as an temp, didnt have anything to read one lunch time, asked if it was ok to go through the slush pile……and found this little book about some boy wizard.   Went back after lunch and told the agent to read the book. Rest as they say is history….

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800 rejections! It takes an incredibly confident man to make it even half that far.

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Linda Brendle Reply:
November 29th, 2011 at 2:31 pm

It takes an incredibly resourceful man to find that many places to send submissions!

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Also, I’d like to know how many times Twilight was rejected.

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Nitti1985 Reply:
November 28th, 2011 at 2:23 am

not enough

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Junkadunk Reply:
November 28th, 2011 at 12:41 pm

Twilight rejection letter would read: Please do not write anymore. If you choose to write. We beg you to stop wiping your ass with your keyboard, and create something more inspiring. We do not care for your sacrilegious depiction of a sparkly, pedophile fruitcake of a vampire. We would also like to ask you to refrain from capitalizing on young, easily swayed, and otherwise insecure teens. If we were to accept your verbal diarrhea, it would only be met with five conditions

1. Remove high school from the setting. Japan has milked the high school stories into oblivion.
2. Remove the insecure twat who has the fetish for old men that look and act like kids. e.g. PeeWee Herman with fangs.
3. Turn “PeeWee” into a ravenous, bloodsucking fuck-head with an insatiable thirst for blood and 24-hour erection.
4. Beg Bram Stoker for forgiveness, then proceed to impale yourself while praying to Vlad Tepes.
5. Cut yourself open and look closely at the blood. See teen love in that? Neither should vampires.

If you cannot meet these conditions, we urge you to take your story to other publishers, as they are in as much need of toilet paper as we.

Thank you for submitting your steamy stack of shit-paper. We hope we did not upset you. However, if you would like. We can send your copy of “Sparkles: The pedophile vampire” to any rap label of your choosing. As we are confident you will be a big sucess! Good day madam.

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donthateappreciate Reply:
November 30th, 2011 at 1:47 am

I think the point of this list in the first place was to show that whether or not someone likes a book is a very subjective thing.  So while I do respect the fact that you strongly dislike the Twilight series, keep in mind that lots of people enjoy the books.  I was personally not impressed either, but I do try to remember that what I appreciate, someone else probably couldn’t care less about and vice versa.  I would recommend trying to find something you can appreciate in everything.  Doing so allows me to learn much more from everything I experience.  If I were to focus on hating something, I might miss out on some pretty awesome parts of that thing.

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imaginativeART Reply:
December 5th, 2011 at 4:13 am

yyyyeeaaa I tried appreciating something that others enjoyed, and I could not even get through half of that book.. it is complete rubbish and filled with horrible dialogue, characters that a fourth grader could come up with, and her writing is in desperate need of an English professor. Her writing is bland and leaves something to be desired.

Alena Reply:
December 28th, 2011 at 7:07 am

So why don’t you come up with something better? No one’s comparing Twilight/Stephanie Meyer to C.S Lewis or George Orwell, or any other author for that matter… her series did well with what it was supposed to do well with, preteen girls! Why can’t people just let it be?! 

Anastasiya Maslova Reply:
November 30th, 2011 at 5:10 am

Her audience was pre-teen and teenage girls so I think she
wrote an amazing book considering it’s become such a hit among them.

 

She’s not the greatest writer in the world – it’s obviously
her first published work, the story is pretty dumb (again, if you’re not a
teenage girl) and her characters aren’t very well developed. But, throughout
her books, you go through a lot of emotions – good, bad, sad, sickening (who else has written about a vampire child clawing it’s way from your inside) – and I
think that’s the main point of a book – to evoke emotions and for the readers
to actually care for the characters in some way or another.

 

What I commend her for is that it is the only series I have
ever read which had a satisfying ending. She answered all the questions she
posed throughout the four books (which is more than I can say for Rowling who
put so many questions into the HP novels that by books 7, she abandoned all
hope of answering most of them). She ended it perfectly – there is no need for
a bunch of fake sequels or a look at “10 years from now”

Have you actually read all the books and hated them? or did you see the poor and ridiculous movies that Hollywood produced – cuz they really need to fire the director and actors from any future productions of anything

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David Halle Reply:
December 6th, 2011 at 8:47 pm

I only have one thing to say.

The point of a book, at least a work of fiction, is to tell a story the emotions are a secondary point. If the book has a poor story it will generally fail even if it evokes strong emotions.

Alena Reply:
December 28th, 2011 at 7:03 am

$300 million dollars later…
oh yes, the books “generally failed”. 
By the way – no one’s asking you to read it, as you are not the target audience. The Twilight series did incredible, and I don’t see the point in people having this intense dislike for it. What’s the enjoyment from it? 

ImprobableMoose Reply:
November 29th, 2011 at 11:33 am

Most amusingly, it had I think it was 9 different publishers fighting over it and was published less than a year after she started writing it – which she did in under three months.  My sister and I have a theory that being rejected repeatedly actually shows you have original and interesting ideas that are probably way better than the crap that is churned out automatically.  The constant fixing and rewriting of books while they attempt to get published most likely gave these authors the chance to improve themselves and their writing.  Although, unlike with Twilight, they probably had decent ideas in the first place.

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awkwardbrains Reply:
November 30th, 2011 at 7:11 pm

not enough

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Lynn Reply:
December 1st, 2011 at 1:28 am

From what I heard, it was around 13.

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mandbear Reply:
December 1st, 2011 at 4:42 pm

Twilight is successful because the masses don’t want smart or thought provoking. They want entertainment that’s cheap and easy, just like their mothers.

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expectations Reply:
February 18th, 2012 at 7:39 pm

The sad part about Twilight is not how poorly written it is, but how popular that poor writing is. I have found that generally people rise to the expectations you set for them. Sure twilight sold millions, but has anyone tried to sell anything of value to the demographic? In comparison to what else is being pushed to teen girls, Twilight is probably some of the best. 

“If you throw enough sh*t at the walls, some of it will stick, but it doesn’t stop your walls from being covered in sh*t.”

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lets not forget how many times writers have written pieces of crap and publishers have published them. Subjectivity can be a fickle pickle. 

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One of my poetry friends writing a poem that began “Daniel Boone must of been plum crazy” received it back from an editor with the grammar corrected and a rejection letter.

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My first book, Gorgeous George and the Giant Geriatric Generator was also rejected 17 times before being accepted.

It’s available in stores now!!!!!

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Author of The Help was rejected 60 times over 5 years, until she finally got a letter of acceptance upon her 61st submission.

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That means the editors didn’t like (or even read) the books…

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Wow I can’t even believe the comment about the Diary of Anne Frank… Some great trivia here, very encouraging for writers tempted to give up on their dream!

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Makes me smile when publishers and agents expect us to submit to them
one-at-a-time just in case more than one accepts, especially given how
long a manuscript can sit on a slush pile and let alone the time it takes
them to read our sample pages and cover letter. I’m sure Kipling must have
been sending them out ten at a time!

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Charles Bukowski was rejected a TON before the New Yorker picked up one of his poems.

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Its sad to see that not everyone gets a oppurtunity like others do 

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I still think they should have had more……. And to tell of their sucsess 

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there is a reason why zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance was turned down so many times. 

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You have to wonder whether John Kennedy Toole renamed his famous novel to A Confederacy of Dunces after he gave up on getting it published.

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Tiecoon.com, ties rejected 186 times.

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Everything in life requires patience. The only time we fail is when we give up. So let’s do what we love and eventually we’ll win. We must never give up our dreams because we’re strong enough.

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One of my favourite anecdotes is from Tad Williams.  Apparently his first book Tailchaser’s Song was turned down by one publisher with the reason being that they “don’t do non-human protagonists”.  It was also rejected several other times, but not for such an odd reason!

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#7 Kipling was the major racist who wrote “The White Man’s Burden” 

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Anne Marie Boidock. You may not know her yet, but someday – you will.

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I think a couple of those should have been turned down a couple more times, but then again I’ma grumpy old bastard.

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One has to admire these authors for their belief in their writing and their tenacity in the pursuit of a publisher. One can only speculate how many fall out of the race in defeat.

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I studied journalism ~ family and friends always encouraged me to write, now at 72 I have many different things I’d like to put down on paper… however, believe the first few years of rejection letters stopped me from trying. Seems someone “up there” still wants me to keep writing, or I wouldn’t have seen this published comment on Publishers. . .thanks… this is encouraging… I also had thought about having something printed and selling it myself. . .I’ve read folks are doing that also.

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What about Alex Haley who continued to write and submit for something like ten years . . .and one day an editor wrote back, I think it might have been Murray Fisher, “nice try” scrubbed across the rejected story or whatever. He said that phrase kept him going.

How’s that? encouraged by a rejection letter!

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