10 Publishing Rejections That Will Make You Pick Up Your Pen, Again And Again

If you're currently picking up the pieces of your first artistic endeavour, don't despair. It's the first step to success...

1. J.K Rowling - Harry Potter

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Perhaps the apogee of all publishing boo-boo's, the young wizard's first adventures at Hogwarts in A Philosopher's Stone were rejected12 times by publishers. J.K Rowling was on the dole when she had written them. I imagine the 12 publishers who rejected them now also share the same fate.

2. George Orwell - Animal Farm

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Rejected by no lesser a literary figure than T.S Eliot when he was working for Faber and Faber in 1944. It was further rejected by 4 other publishers. He was one of the first to criticise the Soviet Regime, lambasting publicists reluctance to criticise the Soviet regime as 'Intellectual cowardice', adding that 'it was the worst enemy a writer or a journalist has to face'. Ouch

3. Rudyard Kipling - The English Language

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Fired from the San Francisco Examiner in 1889 with the editor commenting: "I'm sorry Mr. Kipling, but you just cannot use the English Language." Ahem. He went on to write Jungle Book, Just So Stories, numerous fantastic poems and win the Nobel Prize for Literature.. 'If you can meet with triumph and disaster, and treat those two imposters just the same..'

4. Stephen King - Carrie

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Stephen King's chilling thriller Carrie, was rejected THIRTY times. Skint, in 1973 he worked in the summer in an Industrial Laundry centre, as a janitor and pumped gas at a filling station. Disillusioned with his first effort, he threw it away. His then wife Tabby found the crumpled pieces of paper, dusted off the cigarette ashes and gave him a kick up the arse. It was published months later, as Stephen King began the journey to becoming the monolith of modern culture that he is today. Tabby knew best!

5. Ernest Hemmingway - The Sun Also Rises

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Mrs Moberley Luger, publisher at Peacock and Peacock denounced Hemmingway's Alpha Maleness, commenting "If I may be frank, Mr. Hemingway — you certainly are in your prose — I found your efforts to be both tedious and offensive. You really are a man’s man, aren’t you? I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that you had penned this entire story locked up at the club, ink in one hand, brandy in the other." Never have truer words been spoken. in 53' he won a Pulitzer for the sensational For Whom The Bell Tolls, in 54' he won the Nobel Prize for Literature, in 55' he probably wrestled a lion to prove his machismo (probably). Take that, Luger! Who are ya!

6. Herman Melville - Moby Dick

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Peter J. Bentley rejected Herman's best in 1851, saying that, instead of a whale, Ahab should be rejecting the advances of voluptuous young maidens. The rest, as they say, is fishstory. History. Ahem. It was published later that year, sans voluptuous chested women. It did alright, you know.

7. William Golding - Lord of the Flies

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Released in 54', after numerous rejections, it was initially met with indifference from the public. Fast forward to today, you would be hard pushed to find someone (having studied GCSE English) who hasn't read and imagined life on a desert island tribe, hunting, feasting and larking about without their parents. Golding went on to win the Booker Prize in 80' and the Nobel Prize in 83'.

8. James Joyce - The Dubliners

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Originally rejected for obscenity and the repeated use of the word 'bloody', it took a long time for Joyce to pluck up the courage to re-release the edited manuscripts of The Dubliners. He even sent a letter to King George V to ask if the passages were indeed obscene. He even got a response - from the Royal secretary. Eight Years of legal wrangling ensued with publishers, until he was contacted by Grant Richards, who had initially intended to publish the Dubliners. Inspired by Interest from Ezra Pound's magazine, the Egoist, he decided that it was in the best interest to publish and went ahead in 1941. In 1922 he published a little book called Ulysses, which apparently went quite well for him.

9. C.S Lewis - The Chronicles Of Narnia

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Despite popular belief, C.S wasn't rejected by 800 publishers before getting a break. He was however, rejected by Macmillan publishing house. It went on to sell one hundred million copies, translated into 47 languages. So from Azerbaijan to Zimbabwe, you were bloody wrong Macmillan. Shame on you!

10. Oscar Wilde - Lady Windermere's Fan

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"My Dear sir, I have read your manuscript. Oh, my dear sir"... began a rejection letter for Lady Windermere's Fan. In one of the early performance's Wilde saw, he said: "The play was a great success, but the audience was a total failure." The play went on to be a roaring success, a brutal critique of Victorian society, his speciality. Conservative critiques, as could probably be expected tried to trash it, but to no avail. My dear Sir, eat your own words!

11. KEEP THE FAITH!

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Stay Inspired, don't ever stop believing, and most of all, trust your own judgement and not that of others... Look how wrong even the best can get it..