Recently, after mulling on a round of author rejection, I wrote down some thoughts, which I would like to share here. Its called Reflections on Rejection: Rejection is hard. After all, authors spend thousands of dollars on editing, lost wages, and so on, only to find another thanks, but no thanks letter. How many rejections did I have before Wipf and Stock picked up the Pentecostal Paradox? Several, at least! Are you facing author rejection? Many who are now great authors faced rejection. Take, for example, Rudyard Kipling. He wrote The Jungle Book. Ironically, an editor told him, "you just don't know how to use the English language." A U.K. vicar, G. P. Taylor, got so tired of rejections he self-published (selling his Harley-Davidson motorcycle) to pay for his book, Shadowmancer before reaching a deal with Faber and Faber. Then, the book enjoyed 15 weeks topping British book charts. Eventually, the film rights grossed over £5 million. Catherine O'Flynn's novel What Was Lost had 20 rejections before being accepted by a small publisher called Tindal Street press! Another author of note, Louisa May Alcott, author of Little Women, received a candid letter from a Publisher stating, "Stick to your teaching, Miss Alcott. You can't write." Finally, John Grisham's first novel faced rejection by 16 agents and almost as many publishers before being accepted by a small publishing house called Wynwood Press.
Jeremiah, in the Bible had his book thrown in the fire, but then we read, "So Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to the scribe Baruch son of Neriah, and as Jeremiah dictated, Baruch wrote on it all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire" (36:32). I am encouraged by the fact that he didn't give up, but he "took another scroll." So too, we must be determined never to give up, no matter how many rejections we writers face.
Its called Reflections on Rejection:
Rejection is hard. After all, authors spend thousands of dollars on editing, lost wages, and so on, only to find another thanks, but no thanks letter. How many rejections did I have before Wipf and Stock picked up the Pentecostal Paradox? Several, at least!
Are you facing author rejection? Many who are now great authors faced rejection. Take, for example, Rudyard Kipling. He wrote The Jungle Book. Ironically, an editor told him, "you just don't know how to use the English language."
A U.K. vicar, G. P. Taylor, got so tired of rejections he self-published (selling his Harley-Davidson motorcycle) to pay for his book, Shadowmancer before reaching a deal with Faber and Faber. Then, the book enjoyed 15 weeks topping British book charts. Eventually, the film rights grossed over £5 million.
Catherine O'Flynn's novel What Was Lost had 20 rejections before being accepted by a small publisher called Tindal Street press!
Another author of note, Louisa May Alcott, author of Little Women, received a candid letter from a Publisher stating, "Stick to your teaching, Miss Alcott. You can't write."
Finally, John Grisham's first novel faced rejection by 16 agents and almost as many publishers before being accepted by a small publishing house called Wynwood Press.
Jeremiah, in the Bible had his book thrown in the fire, but then we read, "So Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to the scribe Baruch son of Neriah, and as Jeremiah dictated, Baruch wrote on it all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire" (36:32).
I am encouraged by the fact that he didn't give up, but he "took another scroll." So too, we must be determined never to give up, no matter how many rejections we writers face.