His wife Susanna brought the book to the attention of writer Scott Bryan Wilson, who showed it to Levi Stahl, then-publicity director at University of Chicago Press, who showed it to Margaret Hivnor, one of the editors. Sergio de la Pava, A Naked Singularity: 88 rejections from agents.Īfter almost 90 agents rejected de la Pava’s first novel, he self-published it. In 2015, Julianne Moore won an Academy Award for portraying the eponymous Alice. Eventually, it was acquired and re-issued by Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, and proceeded to spend 40 weeks on the New York Times best seller list. Lisa Genova, Still Alice: about 100 rejections (or non-replies) from agents.Īfter getting very little positive feedback and no takers from the query process, Genova opted to self-publish her book.

But not before at least one of the sequels, Boyne’s Lassie, was rejected 83 times. “I would like the book to hold up on its own merits.” It was widely praised, and opened the door to two sequels. Once Irish Wine was published by Mercury House in 1989. “I don’t want it to be a freak of fiction,” Wimmer said that year. If you do, give strength to your fellow rejectees and add on to the list in the comments.Īt one time, Wimmer held the official record for the most-rejected published author.

Some authors, like Beatrix Potter and Proust, got so many rejections that they decided to self-publish-and good thing they did-but I don’t have numbers on those either.

(Books that were rejected many times because they were pretty mediocre are just not as interesting.) Even with the higher-profile books, I discounted those with numbers I couldn’t verify, or those that weren’t specific enough-for instance, it looks like Margaret Mitchell’s oft-repeated 38 rejections is a myth Alex Haley may have gotten “hundreds” of rejections before publishing Roots, but they weren’t all necessarily for the novel ditto Kate DiCamillo’s 473 rejections before Because of Winn-Dixie Eimear McBride heard nothing but no for A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing for 7 years, but I don’t know if she got ten nos or a hundred. Of course, this list is incomplete, and I’ve given preference to books that were rejected but are now well-known and widely loved. To inspire you to keep on writing and submitting, here are some of the most rejected books I could dig up. After all, some very famous books (and authors) began their careers at the bottom of the NO pile. If you’re a writer, here’s an idea: resolve to get rejected. It is divided by genres, and includes folders for writing resources, book websites, videos/trailers, and blogs.Tis (almost) the season for resolutions. It is divided by genres, and includes folders for writing resources, book websit This group is dedicated to connecting readers with Goodreads authors.

This group is dedicated to connecting readers with Goodreads authors.

Hope for Garbage by Alex Tully