Why Great Books (and Writers) Face Rejection

Fact: Lots of great books once faced rejection. You might see tons of inspiring stories about famous authors who were rejected repeatedly. And no matter how much talent a writer possesses, rejection comes to everyone. But what does that mean for you as a writer? It doesn’t seem fair for amazing books and authors to get turned down.

If you struggle with rejection like these authors, look below and remind yourself why great books face rejection.

The Publisher’s Opinion Is Different from Yours

“We are not interested in science fiction which deals with negative dystopias. They do not sell.”

Someone once told Steven King this after rejecting his first novel, Carrie. While considered a great book and a horror classic now, no one saw it that way at first. No one, that is, except King’s wife, who pulled it out of the trash and encouraged him to finish it. After around thirty publishers all said the same thing, Stephen King published Carrie and its success took off.

Think of the reaction from this person as a more extreme case (another famous one: One person called William Golding’s The Lord of the Flies “rubbish”). You likely never faced those kinds of responses in an email. But it happens in subtler ways more often to great works than you think. Publishers might read a great book, but acceptance boils down to their opinion of the story as they read. You might hear “no” because of a subjective observation. With your own work, you believe in its value. After facing rejection, you just need to find someone else who does the same and prove everyone else wrong. Thankfully, every publisher thinks differently. Someone out there remains ready to give your work a chance.

It’s Not the Right Time or Place

I work with lots of literary journals. Sometimes I enjoy reading a story, but I know it won’t fit the journal, and I need to reject it for that reason. Not that the story had anything wrong with it. Instead, it included topics, genres, or formats that didn’t fit our guidelines. The same happens with great books, even classics everyone reads today.

Sometimes, great books break through the guidelines put in place, and publishers aren’t sure how to categorize them. They might believe in the book’s value as a story, but they don’t know what to do with it because the publisher hasn’t seen anything like it before. The book needs to find a better, more suitable place where its idea shines. So it receives a rejection. Kind of an honor if you think about it!

For another, publishers might enjoy your book, but they recently published something similar. Your book isn’t a copy, just a product of how people find inspiration from the same ideas. In that case, you might rework some ideas or find someone else who wants that kind of book.

So if a book (no matter how good it may be) just doesn’t fit well at the time or place, it faces rejection. Something to keep in mind. Authors who faced rejection got back up and tried again, knowing they were about to find the right publisher.

You Need to Make Some Improvements First

Remember when I talked about reading for journals? Other times, the story contains one simple, but fatal, flaw that keeps it from publication. In that case, I also need to put it in the reject folder. Sometimes a book needs to reach its full potential through some minor edits and changes. Whenever a writer edits and writes, they improve their craft. But what about the ones who received constant rejection?

All the famous writers who faced rejection have something in common. They kept working on their story. They believed in their book’s potential and examined every way to improve it. A story might be great, but that doesn’t mean you should let it sit and make yourself believe that your work is done. So after facing rejection, take the time to understand whatever feedback you get or reexamine where you think you could improve.

In the end, every writer has a reason for receiving a rejection. Just make sure you keep it from getting you down forever! If you face rejection, you’re in the company of the best.

What are some things you can do when you receive a rejection? Here’s a list:

1. Get back into writing! Learn from the feedback you received if you have any, and see what can be done to improve your story. It might be that once you follow through with this feedback that you can submit again and this time be accepted.
2. Ask someone for another opinion. Follow the feedback you get from editors as much as you can, then, when you make those changes, ask someone you know to provide their opinion as well. Getting opinions from your readers is just as important as getting them from editors, and it always helps to have fresh eyes on a manuscript.
3. Find a good editor. There are also freelance editors out there (like me!) who can help you with your manuscript. This follows the same principle as having fresh eyes on your story. Editors are also trained to look at a work and see the large and small issues with it, so you’ll be in good hands.

Lastly, the most important thing to remember is to never give up. It might be that you need to revamp your entire story, and it ends up looking different from what you originally had. But that’s all part of the process when it comes to writing a novel. In the end, your work will gradually become the best it can be. Just keep writing and keep moving forward.

Happy writing!

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