Authors, Don't Despair

One reason why I stopped submitting my manuscripts to publishers and editors, was Because of rejection slips. Most of them don't even bother to send a personal message, It's just an ugly, predictable form letter, or slip of paper. I can't believe they'd do that To people, but I've gotten a couple slips of paper. 'Thank you, but we're just not Interested in your material' sort of things.

Today, self-publishing makes more sense. Just like in the music industry, you can Upload your MP3s and make money on downloads. An author can find some free tools on the Internet, become a member of some image websites, get Open Office to create their PDFs and sign up to Lulu or any other free, indie website and sell their own books and get royalties from the sales.

Nevertheless, those of you who do wish to pursue a book contract and end up like Joanne Rowling(don't we all wish), then never fear, and never give up, the most famous authors were rejected. Here are a few great books rejected and reviewed unjustly by people that were gravely in error.
Alice In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
We fancy that any real child might be more puzzled than enchanted by this stiff,
Overwrought story.
Children's Books

Pride & Prejudice By Jane Austen(1813)
Why do you like Miss Austen so very much? I am puzzled on that point...I should
Hardly like to live with her ladies and gentleman, in their elegant but confined houses...
Miss Austen is only Shrewd and Observant.
Charlotte Bronte, Letter to GH Lewes 1848

Animal Farm By George Orwell(1945)
It is impossible to sell animal stories in the USA

And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street By Dr. Seuss(1937)
...too different from other juveniles on the market to warrant it's selling.

The Good Earth by Pearl Buck(1931)
Regret the American Public is not interested in anything on China.

Tar Baby by Toni Morrison
Heavy-handed and ultimately unintelligible....topples into dreadful pits of bombast.
The New Yorker

Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift (1726)
...evidence of a diseased mind and lacerated heart.
John Dunlop, The History Of Fiction 1814

Hamlet By William Shakespeare(1601)
It is a vulgar and barbarous drama, which would not be tolerated by the vilest populace of France, or Italy....one would imagine this piece to be the work of a drunken savage.
Volitare, (1768), in The Works of M. de Volitare 1901

So writers never despair, keep pursuing your dream, even if you have to self-publish first. When you have a bestseller on your hands, the publishers will come to you, so never, ever give up.