Rejection is a part of any writer’s life, but don’t despair, even the best have received their share. Here are a few examples of best-selling books by now famous authors that were rejected numerous times, along with comments made by the rejecting editors.
Herman Melville's masterpiece, Moby-Dick, was rejected by multiple publishers, some of whom had creative suggestions for the author. Among them was this, by Peter J. Bentley of Bentley & Son Publishing House: "First, we must ask, does it have to be a whale? While this is a rather delightful, if somewhat esoteric, plot device, we recommend an antagonist with a more popular visage among the younger readers. For instance, could not the Captain be struggling with a depravity towards young, perhaps voluptuous, maidens?"
Kenneth Grahame (author of The Wind in the Willows) once received a rejection that stated: “This is an irresponsible holiday story that will never sell.” Of course, the adventures of Mole, Rat, Toad, and Badger went on to become one of the best-selling children's tales of all time.
“An endless nightmare. I think the verdict would be ‘Oh don’t read that horrid book.” This is from a rejection of H. G. Wells’ tale of alien invasion, The War of the Worlds, which is still in print 121 years later.
Many readers of Joseph Heller’s satirical book about World War II, are probably not aware that he named it Catch-22 as a way of memorializing the 22 rejections it had received. In one of those rejections, the editor stated, “I haven’t the foggiest idea about what the man is trying to say. Apparently the author intends it to be funny.”
“…overwhelmingly nauseating, even to an enlightened Freudian … the whole thing is an unsure cross between hideous reality and improbable fantasy. It often becomes a wild neurotic daydream … I recommend that it be buried under a stone for a thousand years.” Sadly, for this editor, Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita became one of the 20th Century’s most revered novels.
Finally, here are a couple of my favorites, sent to apparently struggling writers by less-than-sympathetic editors.
"I am returning this otherwise good typing paper to you because someone has printed gibberish all over it and put your name at the top."
"Unfortunately, it falls to me to inform you that we will not be publishing your novel. While it is customary to reply with a form letter, in this case I felt I had to say a few words. First, please do not submit any future work to our offices. Second, both myself and my assistant are considering legal action against you for wasting our valuable time with your relentless tripe. Among the areas in need of vast improvement are: descriptions, character development, dialogue, plot, grammar, syntax, analogies, sentence structure, scene transitions, research, and manuscript preparation. Should this novel have been published, it would likely have resulted in the end of modern book sales."
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