When an author’s manuscript is rejected by a publisher it is natural for the author to believe that the book was not good enough. That can induce failure of confidence leading to complete de-motivation. When I submitted the MS of my crime novel The Wastings to Random House I received this reply:‘…It is clever and well written but it doesn’t quite engage the reader…this manuscript is not for us…Harriet Allen. Managing Editor’
Another publisher took up The Wastings and it was subsequently published. A short time later I received a letter from Colin Dexter, author of the Inspector Morse stories:
‘Dear Don,
A very brief line to say how much (yes!) I enjoyed and admired The Wastings. So did my wife. So did my daughter. A lovely idea & a beautifully written work. You’ve made a splendid debut in crime fiction. More please! Good luck with your opus secundum.
Colin Dexter’
A very brief line to say how much (yes!) I enjoyed and admired The Wastings. So did my wife. So did my daughter. A lovely idea & a beautifully written work. You’ve made a splendid debut in crime fiction. More please! Good luck with your opus secundum.
Colin Dexter’
I much prefer Colin Dexter’s opinion to Harriet Allen’s!
My message to all rejected authors is: Believe in yourself. Don’t lose heart. Even professional editors can get it wrong. Mark Twain and J.K.Rowling, no strangers to rejection, could attest to that fact.
The Wastings is now available as an e-book from Amazon.com at $US 9.99.
© DON DONOVAN