Facing Rejection from a Publisher

Writing may be a labour of love and a revelation of the soul. One thing to remember is how difficult entering publishing may be, especially since the profit of the publisher is far more important than that of the writer.





Even getting your manuscript to a publisher may be a difficult task. This is especially difficult for writers who choose a genre that is already saturated. If a publishing company receives twenty of the same kind of book each month, it does not matter if your manuscript is very good. Publishers will always choose to publish what they see is the most marketable manuscripts. For publishers to survive the tough business, they must choose the one that has the most potential. Oftentimes, the profit instinct robs publishers of any kind of vision or sensitivity.





There are many cases where an author will be rejected by dozens of publishers. And just because these authors believed in their own work so much, they persisted, got published, and guess what? Some of the best selling authors today had to face the same ordeal.





Some publishers can even be quite rude to authors as if it were not enough that they reject their works. Have you ever seen the classic teen horror movie "Carrie"? This movie is based on a Stephen King novel. That novel became massively successful when it was published. A blockbuster movie and even a remake of it were created. But before "Carrie" was published, Stephen King endured a dozen of humiliating rejections.





Another great example is that of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone written by J.K Rowling. Harry Potter was rejected by dozens of publishers. Well-known names in the world of publishing like Bloomsbury, HarperCollins and Penguin missed the chance to publish a virtual gold mine because they thought that children do not want to read thick books - or so they thought.





These are all true stories, and it could happen to you. These authors must have some very thick skin to move forward after so much rejection. Or they may have also just given up on finding a publisher and published their own work.





It takes real dedication to be an author. Writing requires discipline and the will to succeed. It's certianly not something that everyone is able to do. But most importantly, a working author has to believe enough in their work to deserve publishing and thick skin to find a publisher.