I came across this the other day while looking up Stephanie Meyers (Twilight series of novels) on Wikipedia: She did not think she could be a writer but she gave it a go. After she wrote her first novel Twilight, she sent out 15 queries; five went unanswered, nine brought rejections, and the last query was a positive response from Jodi Reamer of Writers House. The rest is history. She is listed on the Forbes list of the top 100 powerful celebrities, and she makes $50M a year. I just found it amazing how negative the response was to her queries in light of the success of her novel(s); if as a noob novelist (at that time) she had that level of negativity starting out, on even a blockbuster novel, why should noob wannabe novelists (myself included) expect any less response when sending out queries.
Stephen King essentially got the same feedback on a lot of his work. Oh sure, he got a couple small pieces published in magazines, but the books weren't selling. Until finally, someone decided 'Carrie' was winner, winner, chicken dinner and let the moola fly. You can read his book 'On Writing', which talks a lot about his rejections as a writer. I found it to be quite inspiring that someone who is now so famous and well known... was once a rejected nobody too.
Yes, I've also read "On writing". If I remember correctly he sent quite a lot of short stories to different magazines and when he received a negative response, he just pinned it on the wall. In time this collection got bigger but he didn't quit. Eventually, he managed to get some of his short stories published, but the big breakthrough was Carrie as Tessa mentioned. Fun fact: he threw unfinished Carrie in trash, but his wife found it and told him to continue. He then finished it and sold the papercover rights for 200.000$. So yea, don't give up Another example is of course J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter was rejected dozen times and at last she sold the first book for 1500£. You probably know the rest
I want to hang rejection letters on my wall. Spell a sentence with them then if I do get a positive response I'll make it the period.
And if I dare stray from pure prose, into the realm of screenplays-- Indiana Jones and the Lost Ark, Dances with Wolves, E.T., and many other blockbuster hit films were initially rejected by all the studios.
I remember reading years ago that someone once typed out Jerzy Kosinski's Steps and submitted it to several publishers as a new work and was roundly rejected (apparently, no one recognized it). It just goes to show that the process by which publishers pick works to publish is very much a matter of having the right work at the right time in the right place, and very much a matter of personal tastes.
My favorite rejection story from James Lee Burke's website: "His novel The Lost Get-Back Boogie was rejected 111 times over a period of nine years, and upon publication by Louisiana State University press was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize."
