Don’t sweat rejection letters, these writer’s didn’t

What do Vladimir Nabokov, Jean-Paul Sartre, Sylvia Plath, and George Orwell all have in common? They were all rejected by Alfred J. Knopf Inc, one of the finest American publishing houses. In fact, Knopf has published over a dozen Nobel Prize winning authors and 47 Pulitzer Prize winning volumes of works of everything from fiction to history!

What is even more interesting than such writers being rejected, were the comments left by those who had to read the manuscripts and either recommend them for publication or reject them. In one such case, the comments on a book by a young woman who is a household name were particularly harsh:

The work was "very dull," the reader insisted, "a dreary record of typical family bickering, petty annoyances and adolescent emotions." Sales would be small because the main characters were neither familiar to Americans nor especially appealing. "Even if the work had come to light five years ago, when the subject was timely," the reader wrote, "I don’t see that there would have been a chance for it."

That book turned out to be "Diary of a young girl" by Anne Frank (of course, it was also rejected by many other publishers as well).

The point I’m trying to make is that you should never let rejection get you down. If you have poured your heart and soul into a book and polished it to perfection, and it gets rejected, it’s probably not because you’re a bad writer.

There are many other factors that go into determining whether a publisher buys a manuscript; they already had enough books in that particular genre, they don’t even publish in that genre (happens more than you’d think), the editor had a bad day (yes, they are people too), or the book doesn’t quite meet their needs at the time (a catch-all for publishers).

Some of the most well known authors throughout literary history had a heck of a time getting their work published. A few even resorted to, GASP, self-publishing (ie. Edgar Allan Poe). Rejection is all part of "paying your dues" as a writer and should be never taken personally. In fact, if you get rejection letter after rejection letter from each publisher you send your manuscript to, then you’re in pretty good company.

Read more about Knopf’s rejection letter hijinks from the New York Times here:
No Thanks, Mr. Nabokov

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