A Time to Kill
If at first you don’t succeed …
Oh wow! I’ve been reading about assorted famous and hugely successful authors whose work was rejected multiple times before someone saw their true potential… and feeling decidedly sub-standard!
JK Rowling, (Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone)
Rejected by 12 publishers. Now one of the most successful series in history.
William Golding (Lord of the Flies)
Rejected by 20 publishers. Became a classic.
John Grisham (A Time to Kill)
Rejected by 28 publishers. He’s since written over forty books, selling a collective 275 million copies worldwide, translated into 42 languages.
Stephen King (Carrie)
His debut novel was rejected 30 times. He famously threw it in the fire but his wife rescued it! Published 65 books and known as the ‘King of Horror’!
Kathryn Stockett (The Help)
Rejected 60 times. The debut novel went on to spend over 100 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list.
Agatha Christie (The Mysterious Affair at Styles)
Struggled for 5 years before being accepted for publication. She is the best-selling fiction writer of all time, her novels having sold more than two billion copies.
Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen (Chicken Soup for the Soul)
Rejected by over 140 publishers. 500 million copies sold world-wide since.
Rejection is an inescapable reality in a writer’s life, but it still hurts. I am clearly not made of sufficiently stern stuff: I gave up trying to find a literary agent to represent me after three rejections! Puny!!!