Rejection

If you are a novelist, rejection is part of the game. Not just novelists, of course, but writing novels is what I am reading up on right now. It seems there are a lot of good novels out there that have been rejected by publishers. That makes sense, I guess, but rejection by publishers is weird. Some of you already know that I feel traditional publishers are becoming obsolete, and will become more so as more and more authors start questioning just what it is they are really getting from publishers. But that is another post.

THIS post is to remind myself that publishers are not all-knowing experts - not even in the fields they are supposed to be specializing in. For example:

On the current fiction best seller list is a book called THE HELP, by Kathryn Stockett. Ms Stockett says she stopped counting her rejections for this book at 45.

A WRINKLE IN TIME was rejected by 26 publishers.

Still think Publishers are smart and that you should listen to their criticism? HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE, WATERSHIP DOWN, THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK, DUNE, AND GONE WITH THE WIND were all rejected. I'm sure you have your own list.

There are many quotes I have found that are meant to inspire writers not to give up. Here are a few:

“This manuscript of yours that has just come back from another editor is a precious package. Don’t consider it rejected. Consider that you’ve addressed it ‘to the editor who can appreciate my work’ and it has simply come back stamped ‘Not at this address’. Just keep looking for the right address.”–Barbara Kingsolver

“I discovered that rejections are not altogether a bad thing. They teach a writer to rely on his own judgment and to say in his heart of hearts, “To hell with you.”–Saul Bellow

“Talent is helpful in writing, but guts are absolutely essential.” –Jessamyn West

“We keep going back, stronger, not weaker, because we will not allow rejection to beat us down. It will only strengthen our resolve. To be successful there is no other way.” –Earl G. Graves, founder and publisher of Black Enterprise Magazine

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Rejections or not, most of us are not going to stop writing. People who love to write, who MUST write, don't stop writing because they get a rejection slip. Or 1000 rejection slips. If my poetry is too bad to even blog, I will still keep writing it. If you love to write stories and create characters, you are not going to stop writing either.

If you are a writer who simply MUST get published by a "real" publisher, then perseverance is the order of the day, to be sure. If you write for yourself, mostly, that part doesn't matter. On the other hand, if you have a finished product that you know is good, that you truly believe in, there is no reason, in today's age of on-demand book printing and assisted listing, that you can't self publish it. Just make sure your confidence is confirmed by people whose literary opinion you value (not relatives!) before you take this step or you will be out your 300 bucks.

Then, if you honestly market the book you have just published, and nobody buys it still, then you were full of crap and are simply a no-talent hack. (That's a joke.)