Tuesday, May 05, 2009

Tipsy Tuesday

How do you deal with rejection? The best thing to do is first and foremost, don't take it personally. The editor/agent isn't rejecting you, he/she is rejecting your work. There is a difference. You should always have a new project underway so that you're working on something instead of just pining your hopes on one thing. And know this: your first "baby" may never see the light of day. Be prepared for it to be a learning experience, but not a published book.

And console yourself with knowing even the best have been rejected.

John Grisham received 45 rejections for A Time to Kill

Frank Herbert received 13 rejections for Dune.

Madeline L'Engle received 29 rejections for A Wrinkle in Time (one of my all-time favs!)

Louis L'Amour, who published over 100 westerns, received over 300 rejections before he published his first book.

Ray Bradbury, the KING of sci-fi, received over 800 rejections before he sold his first story.


The key? Persistence. Keep learning, keep improving, and keep submitting.

2 comments:

Colleen Love said...

WOW! Gives me hope, Sherrill! Thanks! :)
I have learned so much from my publishing experiences already. Each a stepping stone toward that ultimate goal. It's an exciting journey.

C~

Sherrill Quinn said...

You're welcome, Colleen. I think that seeing how many rejections these other authors received, while discouraging to them at the time, can be an encouragement to the rest of us. You just have to find the right person at the right time. :)