If Rejections ever get you down...

CELEBRATION OF REJECTION
From the pages of, How to Get a Literary Agent by Michael Larsen

1. 112 Books Louis L’Amour though he received rejections. He received 200 rejections before he sold his first novel. During the last forty years Bantam has shipped nearly three hundred million of his one hundred twelve books, making him their biggest-selling author.
2. 600+ rejection slips wall paper Jack London’s home.
3. 774 rejection slips for John Creasy who went on to publish under 13 pseudonyms 564 books
4. 14 rejected Pearl S Buck finally published The Good Earth
5. 20 rejections didn’t stop Jonathan Livingston Seagull’s publication and you know how famous it became, written by Richard Bach
6. 40 rejections before she sold her first book didn’t stop Mary Higgins Clark
7. 200 rejections Roots by Alex Haley was published.
8. 15 publishers and 30 agents rejected John Grisham’s A Time to Kill before it was finally published.
9. 375 publishers rejected naked in Deccan over seven years before the Baltimore Sun deemed it a classic.
10. Dr Seuss – 24 in his file of rejections before his first books was published
11. 8 years after the novel Steps won the National Book Award, Jerzy Kosinski allowed it to be send out again with a name change to 13 agents and 14 publishers – all of them rejected it, including Random House, which originally published it. Proves the plight of new writers trying to get recognition or a publishing contract.
12. The New Yorker rejected a short story by Saul Bellow after he won the Nobel Prize for Literature.

So there you have it. Don’t let a little pile of rejections stop you from persevering in your desire to be a published author. The three P’s of getting published Polish, Persist, persevere.

REJECTIONS ARE A MYTH

REJECTION IS A MYTH
By Billie A Williams © 2007

According to Jack Canfield (Chicken Soup for the Soul, author) “Some will, some won’t, so what—some one’s waiting.” That, he calls the SWSWSW principle. A returned manuscript is just a signal you need to move it to the next one, the editor you seek is not at the address where you sent it THIS time.

He should certainly know. He and his co-author Mark Victor Hansen – received a total of 130 rejections for the first Chicken Soup for the Soul book. Even after they pounded the pavement and got over 2,000 people to agree to buy the book if it ever got published, publishers wouldn’t touch it. So they self published….and then — as Paul Harvey says, ‘the rest of the story’ you are well acquainted with. Wouldn’t you be inclined to believe someone who believed so adamantly in his book, so strongly that he went on until it was published — that book alone sold 8 million plus copies and was the beginning of an 80 book series of best selling books that have been translated into 39 languages.

Canfield also says that you must ask for what you want. Don’t be vague, because a vague question gets any number of answers from the universe. “Asking is, was and always will be a numbers game,” he says. Asking specifically for what you want is the only way to get it. You must keep asking until you do get it. Eventually, you will.

The first no, whether it’s for a job, money, a date, or even publication of your manuscript means you are just not a match. There is nothing personal about it. Just say next! The view from Canfield’s position is that when someone says no – you haven’t lost anything, you haven’t been rejected – you are no better or no worse off than you were before you asked – so status quo is maintained, you have not failed. The situation didn’t get worse, it didn’t change – you are no worse off than before – however, if you internalize it and beat yourself up, you could make yourself believe you are no good, you are as low as they come on this earth. But, why would you do that? Instead, why not just accept that you didn’t match and move on to NEXT! Who or whatever that might be.

There are over five billion people on our planet earth. Someone, somewhere, sometime will say yes. “Don’t get stuck in your fear or resentment. Move on to the next person. It’s a numbers game and someone is waiting to say yes.” Canfield says.

An observations shared by Barbara Kingsolver author of The Poisonwood Bible.
“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.”

The record for the largest number of rejections today (so far at least) would be John Creasey, a popular British mystery writer. He collected 743 rejections before he sold his first book. Over the next forty years he published 562 full-length books under 28 different pseudonyms! That’s equal to a book a month for 40 years. I just found my new goal. If I can’t break the record for the most books published (and that may even be doable) perhaps I can catalog the most rejections.

My new motto SWSWSWSW
Some will, Some Won’t, So What! Some one’s Waiting!

Don't Just Sit There!

DON’T JUST SIT THERE

When you’ve finished a project, it doesn’t mean you should just sit there and wait until someone buys it before you begin anew. What if it’s rejected? That’s always a possibility. Then of course, you already have another place in mind where you’ll immediately send it back out again, don’t you? If not! Why not? You must keep it circulating, but in the mean time…

There is also the possibility that it could be accepted, in which case you’ll want to have something in progress to offer the publisher, since it could be anywhere from a year to two years before it actually gets published. Think of the number of times you’ve seen where someone gets a book deal with one of the Harlequin imprints or some other major publisher and its always a multi book contract/advance. Rarely, it seems now days, a single title.

Regardless, you should be constantly using your writing skills anyway. Like a well-oiled machine, constant use makes sure you are ready to write. No writer should think that writing one book will keep him solvent for the rest of his life. No matter how successful your first, fifth or fortieth book may be, you’ll still need to, you’ll want to, write again and again. It’s the writing everyday that makes you a writer. Remember no excuses. Keep writing your fans expect it – or they will once they read your first book. Don’t disappoint them.

Playing Tag

Playing Tag is carefree, exhilarating, with no deadlines, no expectations you just play the game -- racing against yourself to keep from getting tagged - suddenly you're it. Now what? Can you relate this to your writing?

You've read, you've studied this was the carefree, exhilarating part. There were no deadlines or expectations. It was just you exploring, but all of a sudden you are out there. It's your turn, it's your words being loved or rejected, shoved back into an SASE (self-addressed, stamped, envelop) to be returned to you along with a standard form "Not for us." A rejection and you are crushed. You decide this game is not for you. You decide you aren't tough enough to chase after someone and tag them only to have them say - I'm on the goal you can't tag me - Your work is no good we don't want it.

Something inside you won't let you quit. It's like Issac Asimov said, "I write for the same reason I breathe, for without it I would die," and you know it's true of you too. You chase, once again hoping to catch that brass ring, that illusive editor/publisher that thinks your work has that something special enough to be polished until it glows by the editorial staff and you...you open the letter with trepidation, heart palpitating-- Dear Ms....We are delighted to offer you a contract for.... Your eyes blink back the tears and you read it again TAG YOUR IT! You did it, they want your story. You won't believe it until you read the contract, sign the contract send it in and have a signed copy come back in the mail to you.

Now it's time for the happy dance and cyber chocolates and champagne - you are IT you have been TAGGED. Perseverance has finally paid off. And that's what it takes is dogged perseverance. Once again you dig in and begin to write and send, and send and write and write You are a writer it's been confirmed and you have the contract to prove it.

A writer with verve, wit and chutzpah is soon to be a guest blogger at Printed Words - Joyce A Anthony author of the critically acclaimed novel STORM is to be our guest blogger on APRIL 13.
Don't miss her interview right here - find out how Storm came to be, what makes Ms. Anthony tick, and more.