Rejection Pays
While we’re on the subject of rejection, Happy 5th Anniversary to perhaps the most unusual publication we’ve seen in awhile: THE REJECTED QUARTERLY. The Cobb, California-based international literary journal’s motto is “Fine Literature Rejected at Least Five Times.” Founder, editor, and publisher, Dan Weiss, a teacher with a master’s degree in creative writing who has self-published five satirical science fiction novels, says the idea for THE REJECTED QUARTERLY “came from my own experience with rejections, with being rejected on a basis other than the writing, usually for marketing reasons.”All fiction and poetry submissions must be accompanied by at least five rejection slips from other publications (and some of these will be published with each piece), but nonfiction manuscripts don’t have to have been previously rejected.
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Publishing Survival Stocking Stuffers
Gifts Books for Authors on the Road to Publication
Every published author knows that the road to publication is paved with perseverance. Every published author will also tell you that for the sake of your sanity, you have to ignore the opinions of those agents, editors, and publishers whose rejections you have to endure on your way to publication.These two books will help you do all of that. So, ask Santa or Saturday Night Live’s Hannukah Harry to slip them in your stocking or next to your Menorah.
WHAT YOU AREN’T SUPPOSED TO KNOW ABOUT WRITING & PUBLISHING, by Laurens R. Schwartz (Shapolsky Publishers, 1988). While some things have changed since its publication 15 years ago, the basics of the publishing industry remain the same (if not worse, if we’re being honest), and Schwartz’s insights as an author, agent, and attorney are just as applicable and amusing now as they were when the book first hit the shelves. Some highlights:
“There are no great editors anymore; there are marketers.”
“Commercial success is based on quantity, not quality.”
“…a manuscript is accepted because the editor has taken a liking to you and wants you as part of his stable (an unlikely rationale), the editor needs to fill his list and your book fits the marketing/production bill, or corporate headquarters of the conglomerate has declared that some loss leaders are necessary…and your book had been selected to die.”
”The fact is that agents (and editors) have absolutely no idea about what is good or bad, but do have a sense as to what they consider marketable.”
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PUSHCART’S COMPLETE ROTTEN REVIEWS AND REJECTIONS, edited by Bill Henderson and Andre Bernard (Pushcart Press, 1998). A collection of historical and contemporary rejection letters and reviews received by writers whose initially rejected books and other literary works went on to become critically acclaimed classics.
For example, Alice in Wonderland was called "a stiff overwrought story" and a review of Moby Dick cited Melville for "tragic-comic bubble and squeak." Even more hilarious are the classic rejections from dozens of publishing houses, magazines, and newspapers that cover the 19th and 20th centuries. Just one glance shows you that rejection letters represent crazy notions that have changed little over the centuries:
“These stories have trees in them.” This lunatic comment was made by a book editor who rejected Norman Maclean’s A River Runs Through It, which was then published in 1976, and later became a hit movie.
“You’re welcome to le Carre -— he hasn’t got any future.” So much for the psychic skills of the nitwit who rejected le Carre’s ultimately published 1963 classic The Spy Who Came in From the Cold.
“I haven’t really the foggiest idea about what the man is trying to say.” Unfortunately, this is the same clueless state that afflicts so many in the publishing industry. Yet, they continue to come to work. Joseph Heller didn’t let this comment deter him, and his classic survived the round of rejections to be published in 1961. It’s Catch-22, of course. "We don't think we could distribute enough copies to satisfy you or ourselves." Oh, really? Well, you were wrong. Jean Auel's 1980 hit The Clan of the Cave Bear was a runaway bestseller.
"Regret the American public is not interested in anything on China." It never ceases to amaze the public that publishers who claim to know what people want to read are usually wrong. They certainly were about Pearl Buck's 1931 classic The Good Earth.
"The girl doesn't, it seems to me, have a special perception or feeling which would lift the book above the 'curiosity' level.” Well, then, clearly you're in the wrong line of work. You shouldn't be an editor; you should be selling shoes. This editor's loss was another editor's gain, and 1952's The Diary of Anne Frank became one of the most important books of the 20th century.
"It is impossible to sell animal stories in the U.S.A." I'm speechless. Did this editor really think this was just an animal story? Fortunately, the 1945 George Orwell classic Animal Farm found a publisher and continues to thrive as one of the top books ever published.
"It is not interesting enough for the general reader and not thorough enough for the scientific reader." The book survived this misguided rejection and has been a beloved science fiction classic for more than 100 years. It's H.G. Wells' 1895 classic The Time Machine.
"An endless nightmare... I think the verdict would be 'Oh don't read that horrid book." Well, you thought wrong, bozo-brain. Millions of people have loved H. G. Wells' 1898 classic The War of the Worlds, and still do.
And, finally...
"We deem it injudicious to commit ourselves." Well, maybe they didn't want to commit themselves to publication, but they certainly qualified for commitment to the nearest psychiatric facility because they rejected Walt Whitman's 1885 treasure Leaves of Grass.
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Nina L. Diamond is a journalist, essayist, and the author of Voices of Truth: Conversations with Scientists, Thinkers & Healers. Her work has appeared in numerous publications, including Omni, The Los Angeles Times Magazine, The Chicago Tribune, and The Miami Herald.
Ms. Diamond was a writer and performer on Pandemonium, the National Public Radio (NPR) satirical humor program, for its entire run in Miami and select markets nationwide from 1984-1998. As an editor, she works frequently with other authors and journalists on both fiction and non-fiction.