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50 Iconic Writers Who Were Repeatedly Rejected


Whether students are struggling writers, or just studying to be one at accredited online colleges, they probably know that there's a lot of rejection in their futures. Whether you are aiming for a technical program or bachelor's degree, you will more than likely come to a point where your hard work isn't quite good enough. But don't be dismayed, rejection happens even to the best. Here are 50 well-respected writers who were told no several times, but didn't give up.

  1. Dr. Seuss: Here you'll find a list of all the books that Dr. Seuss' publisher rejected.
  2. William Golding: William Golding's Lord of the Flies was rejected 20 times before becoming published.
  3. James Joyce: James Joyce's Ulysses was judged obscene and rejected by several publishers.
  4. Isaac Asimov: Several of Asimov's stories were rejected, never sold, or eventually lost.
  5. John le Carre: John le Carre's first novel, The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, was passed along because le Carre "hasn't got any future."
  6. Jasper Fforde: Jasper Fforde racked up 76 rejections before getting The Eyre Affair published.
  7. William Saroyan: William Saroyan received an astonishing 7,000 rejection slips before selling his first short story.
  8. Jack Kerouac: Some of Kerouac's work was rejected as pornographic.
  9. Joseph Heller: Joseph Heller wrote a story as a teenager that was rejected by the New York Daily News.
  10. Kenneth Grahame: The Wind in the Willows was not intended to be published, and was rejected in America before appearing in England.
  11. James Baldwin: James Baldwin's Giovanni's Room was called "hopelessly bad."
  12. Ursula K. Le Guin: An editor told Ursula K. Le Guin that The Left Hand of Darkness was "endlessly complicated."
  13. Pearl S. Buck: Pearl Buck's first novel, East Wind: West Wind received rejections from all but one publisher in New York.
  14. Louisa May Alcott: Louisa May Alcott was told to stick to teaching.
  15. Isaac Bashevis Singer: Before winning the Nobel Prize, Isaac Bashevis Singer was rejected by publishers.
  16. Agatha Christie: Agatha Christie had to wait four years for her first book to be published.
  17. Tony Hillerman: Tony Hillerman was told to "get rid of the Indian stuff."
  18. Zane Grey: Zane Grey self-published his first book after dozens of rejections.
  19. Marcel Proust: Marcel Proust was rejected so much he decided to pay for publication himself.
  20. Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen: Chicken Soup for the Soul received 134 rejections.
  21. William Faulkner: William Faulkner's book, Sanctuary, was called unpublishable.
  22. Patrick Dennis: Auntie Mame got 17 rejections.
  23. Meg Cabot: The bestselling author of The Princess Diaries keeps a mail bag of rejection letters.
  24. Richard Bach: 18 publishers thought a book about a seagull was ridiculous before Jonathan Livingston Seagull was picked up.
  25. Beatrix Potter: The Tale of Peter Rabbit had to be published by Potter herself.
  26. John Grisham: John Grisham's A Time to Kill was rejected by 16 publishers before finding an agent who eventually rejected him as well.
  27. Shannon Hale: Shannon Hale was rejected and revised a number of times before Bloomsbury published The Goose Girl.
  28. Richard Hooker: The book that inspired the film and TV show M*A*S*H* was denied by 21 publishers.
  29. Jorge Luis Borges: It's a good thing not everyone thought Mr. Borges' work was "utterly untranslatable."
  30. Thor Heyerdahl: Several publishers thought Kon-Tiki was not interesting enough.
  31. Vladmir Nabokov: Lolita was rejected by 5 publishers in fear of prosecution for obscenity before being published in Paris.
  32. Laurence Peter: Laurence Peter had 22 rejections before finding success with The Peter Principles.
  33. D.H. Lawrence: Sons and Lovers faced rejection, and D.H. Lawrence didn't take it easily.
  34. Richard Doddridge Blackmore: This much-repeated story was turned down 18 times before getting published.
  35. Sylvia Plath: Sylvia Plath had several rejected poem titles.
  36. Robert Pirsig: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance faced an amazing 121 rejections before becoming beloved by millions of readers.
  37. James Patterson: Patterson was rejected by more than a dozen publishers before an agent he found in a newspaper article sold it.
  38. Gertrude Stein: Gertrude Stein submitted poems for 22 years before having one accepted.
  39. E.E. Cummings: E.E. Cummings named the 14 publishers who rejected No Thanks in the book itself.
  40. Judy Blume: Judy Blum received nothing but rejections for two years and can't look at Highlights without wincing.
  41. Irving Stone: Irving Stone's Lust for Life was rejected by 16 different editors.
  42. Madeline L'Engle: Madeline L'Engle's masterpiece A Wrinkle in Time faced rejection 26 times before willing the Newberry Medal.
  43. Rudyard Kipling: In one rejection letter, Mr. Kipling was told he doesn't know how to use the English language.
  44. J.K. Rowling: J.K. Rowling submitted Harry Potter to 12 publishing houses, all of which rejected it.
  45. Frank Herbert: Before reaching print, Frank Herbert's Dune was rejected 20 times.
  46. Stephen King: Stephen King filed away his first full length novel The Long Walk after it was rejected.
  47. Richard Adams: Richard Adams's two daughters encouraged him to publish Watership Down as a book, but 13 publishers didn't agree.
  48. Anne Frank: One of the most famous people to live in an attic, Anne Frank's diary had 15 rejections.
  49. Margaret Mitchell: Gone With the Wind was faced rejection 38 times.
  50. Alex Haley: The Roots author wrote every day for 8 years before finding success.

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