Inspired By Rejections

I've been organizing the bookshelves in my office. I came across several small books I haven't looked at in years. Of course, I had to flip through them and see if I wanted to keep them.

One of these was Rotten Rejections, Edited by Andre Bernard and published by Penguin. I found that it's still sold on Amazon.

Rejection comes in many forms--sometimes from an agent, an editor, or from the reading public who just aren't buying your fabulous book!

If your ambition is guttering low and you wonder whether you should just quit, you might want to snag a copy of this little book. It's well worth the price.

Here are a few quotes from the book that should lift your spirits. Even the greatest authors were rejected too.

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen was rejected by her publisher in 1818. Here's what the rejection letter said: "We are willing to return the manuscript for the same (advance) as we paid for it." (Huh?!!)

The Bridge Over The River Kwai by Pierre Boulle was rejected with this note: "A very bad book." (This book went on to be published in French and in English and to sell screen rights for a movie of the same name that won 7 Oscars plus all the other major awards that year.)

Journey Back To Love by Mary Higgins Clark, rejected in 1962 with these words: "We found the heroine as boring as her husband had." Ms. Clark practically invented the woman in jeopardy genre.

The Diary of Anne Frank, rejected in 1952: "The girl doesn't, it seems to me, have a special perception or feeling which would lift that book above the curiosity level." (Bet that editor kicked himself every day of his life after that.)

The Blessing Way by Tony Hillerman, rejected in 1970 by this sentence: "If you insist on rewriting this, get rid of all that Indian stuff." (Mr. Hillerman went on to a fabulous career with his many novels of the Navaho--not to mention movies and television based on his novels.)

The Spy Who Came In From The Cold by John Le Carre, rejected in 1963 with this scathing remark: "You're welcome to le Carre--he hasn't got any future." (Unbelievable, isn't it?)

Fortunately for us readers, the authors didn't listen to the editorial words of doom. They had enough

belief in their work that they persisted.

In case you're wondering, I kept the book. It's a treasury of inspiration so I won't get rid of it.

Takeaway Truth

Next time you feel rotten after a rejection or not enough sales, think of these authors and so many others that were deemed unpublishable.