Rejections

I've yet to meet an author that didn't have any rejections. Although the first article I ever wrote and sent to a magazine was accepted, I've had my share of rejections to follow, both for articles and books. However, don't despair. If your work is rejected, you're in good company. Just look at some of them:

• A publisher told Rudyard Kipling he didn't know how to use the English language.
• When George Orwell tried to place Animal Farm, he was told that animal stories wouldn't sell in the United States.
• William Faulkner's book, Sanctuary, was called "unpublishable."
• Louisa May Alcott was told to "stick with teaching."
• Beatrix Potter finally had to publish The Tale of Peter Rabbit herself.

• Harry Potter was rejected 12 times, and series has now made over a billion dollars.
• The Diary of Anne Frank was rejected 15 times.
• The Lord of the Flies by William Golding was rejected 2o times.
• Dr. Seuss's first book was rejected 27 times.
• Mash by Richard Hooker was rejected 21 times, but 4 years after it was eventually published, it became a hit T.V. series.
• Dune by Frank Herbert was refused 23 times.
• A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle was rejected 26 times.
• Some report that John Grisham's A Time to Kill was rejected 28 times.
• Stephen King received 30 rejection notices before Carrie was published.

• Gone with the Wind was rejected 38 times.
• James Patterson's first book, The Thomas Berryman Number was rejected 31 times.
• The Help was turned down 60 times.
• And topping my list, Chicken Soup for the Soul was rejected 144 times. But the authors didn't give up.

That's the lesson in all of this. A rejection just means that, for any number of possible reasons, one person on one day decided not to use your manuscript. It has no reflection on how good your writing is, how publishable your work might be, or how popular it could be if published. Believe in yourself and don't give up.

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