Rejected!

In trying to give authors encouragement to keep going after many rejections, people will often cite that Harry Potter was rejected 12 times before it was picked up.  Anyone who would make such a statement doesn't realize the TRUE reality of the publishing business.  I was reminded of this when looking at twitter today when I found this tweet from @findmeediting.

Amanda is right. 12 - 16 rejections is nothing in the life of an aspiring author. But to give Amanada (and others some hope).

• In my first attempt at a writing career, I wrote 13 novels, queried 7 (or was it 6 I forget), over the course of 20 years and received about 200 rejections.
  
  
• When I returned to writing 10 years later, it was only on the condition that I wouldn't seek publication (because that way let to the dark side).  So my wife gave it a try and she received about 100 rejections.
  
  
• Since this is my blog, I'm not going to cite all my successes since finally publishing in 2008, (if you are here you know that I've done well). So I just wanted to point out that persistence can pay off.  Robin has a saying, "The only way to guarantee failure is to quit trying."  

To provide some further incentive, (or maybe some will find it demoralizing) here are some other people who responded to Amanda's post:

• @cyberwar: Was just on a call with an author who went through three agents and 11 years before finally getting published. Sold 100K books in six printings.
  
  
• @hcor - Book 1: 15 agents, 5 full requests, 10 rejections, 1 R&R with no response - shelved book.  Book #2 55 agent quiers - 24 requests - 31 rejectiosn, 1 R&R no response - 1 publisher submission >> book deal.
  
  
• @melisskhavas - I started querying in college and it took me 7 books and 200+ rejections to get signed. Spent a long time feeling embarrassed by it (thinking I really must have been the worst writer ever if it took so long), but I don’t think it’s that unusual, just not talked about.
  
  
• @sharpegirl - While I did query 6 books over 7 years before my debut (debut was manuscript #16) I’ve gotta admit I never got more than 25 rejections per book because that’s about how many agents I was interested in.
  
  
• @DianaUrban - *Cracks knuckles* Here are my stats prior to getting a book deal for All Your Twisted Secrets: - 3 agents - 4 times on sub to publishers - 5 editor R&R requests - 120+ editor rejections - 130+ agent rejections -- Never give up
  
  
• @Heroes_Get_Made - I was rejected more than 100 times by agents and more than 20 times by publishers. I eventually got accepted by a publisher after submitting directly. Then that publisher went out of business. I got a different publisher, which published my entire seven-book series.
  
  
• @JMCwrites - 290 queries until my first agent. 5 books went on submission to editors before one sold. My debut was the tenth manuscript I wrote. I'm not a bestseller, but hopefully that helps a little.
  
  
• @AnnaLeeJuber - It took me 7 years before I sold my 5th completed manuscript. Probably close to 200 rejections, if not more. But it sure was fun to burn the paper ones (I started querying right at cusp of switching from paper to all electronic) once I had a publishing contract.

• @KrisRey19 - I queried for 5 yrs (plus sporadically another 7 w/PB's before that) til my 5th novel which got 3 offers & my dream agent. I've send over 500 queries & must have as many R's. This job demands patience & serious guts.

• @AllieLarkin - I think it took me a full year of rejections to find my first agent. I’m sure it was over 100 rejections, and a few of them were gratuitously mean.
  
  
• @Kate4Queen  - 5 years of querying, 142 rejections. Finally sold books 4 and 5. Have now been published for 15 years and written around 70 books. :) And I think I'm doing okay :)
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• @katierus - Saaame! I had over 150. Eek, maybe more, it's been so damn long since then. I submitted for like 2 or 3 years I think. And even after I signed w/ my agent in 09, we got rejections! 
  
  
• @BritneySlewis - This makes me a little emotional. Goodness. I queried for 10 years before I found the right agent. I don't even wanna share how many queries I sent out or that were rejected. Maybe 300??? Maybe over that? 
  
  
• @KateQuinnAuthor - I was querying agents from age 17. 9 years of rejections and 7 novels consigned to a drawer before I was picked up, and I wouldn't say that's a huge amount of rejections, either.
• @SSCav - James Lee Burke's The Lost Get-Back Boogie was rejected 111 times over 9 years. A small press took it on and it was nominated for a Pulitzer. There are many great authors who struggle for years to catch a break. I happens for some.
  
  
• @brngreenwood - 122 agents passed on my novel that made the NYT bestseller list. And that’s just the rejections for that one book. Prior to that book, I clocked 400+ rejections for 6 books over the course of 9 years.
  
  
• @laurcunn - I received somewhere around 80-90 rejections over a 10 year period (for Adverse Effects alone; I had at least 50 additional rejections for other books I had written) before I found my agent and subsequently my publisher.
  
  
• @JasonRLady - I queried for 13 years before finding a publisher. I lost count of the rejections.
  
  
• @triceretops - 17 straight years--shorts and novels--been rejected 1,500 times at the very least. It took 400 rejections before I got my last agent.
  
  
• @barbaralongley - Raising my hand! I could've wallpapered my living room with rejection letters. I kept at it. Now I'm hybrid. I have 13 traditionally/agented published books, and 3 self-pubbed.
  
  
• @sandraruttan - British thriller writer Simon Kernick received hundreds of rejections and he's been very successful.
  
  
• @AuthorKatM - Querying from 2008. I didn't sign with an agent until 2017, and even then I didn't sign my first book deal until a month ago. I've received more rejections than I can count, but it helps knowing THAT'S NORMAL.
  
  
• @HopeBolinger - Totally hear you! I think I've gotten somewhere near 1000 rejections for various works. I'm multi-published now in the traditional market, but still get constant rejections