Favorite rejection quotes

[Greenwolf103]

Post your favorite rejection and rejection-related quote here. Please be sure to either include the quote's source (name) or "Anonymous" if you don't have that info.

I'll start with a few.

"I discovered that rejections are not altogether a bad thing. They teach a writer to rely on his own judgment and to say in his heart of hearts, "To hell with you."-Saul Bellow

"A rejection is nothing more than a necessary step in the pursuit of success."-Bo Bennett

"The vital point to remember is that the swine who just sent your pearl of a story back with nothing but a coffee-stain and a printed rejection slip can be wrong. You cannot take it for granted that he is wrong, but you have an all-important margin of hope that might be enough to keep you going."- Brian Stableford

[oarsman]

"Talent is helpful in writing, but guts are absolutely essential." - Jessamyn West

"We keep going back, stronger, not weaker, because we will not allow rejection to beat us down. It will only strengthen our resolve. To be successful there is no other way." - Earl G. Graves, founder and publisher of Black Enterprise Magazine

"Practice, practice, practice until you eventually get numb on rejections." - Brian Klemmer

"After rejection—misery, then thoughts of revenge, and finally, oh well, another try elsewhere. " - Mason Cooley

"When you can't figure out what to do, it's time for a nap." - Mason Cooley

"Regret for wasted time is more wasted time." - Mason Cooley

[triceretops]

Don't have any celeb quotes but I have a few of my personal ones:

(From a regional non-fiction publisher) "I'm afraid this has too much national appeal."

(From a small press): "I really hate this title. If I like the book, I'll need a title change."

Tri

[CaroGirl]

"Rejected pieces aren't failures; unwritten pieces are" ~ Greg Daugherty

"There are two wrong reactions to a rejection slip: deciding it's a final judgment on your story and/or talent, and deciding it's no judgment on your story and/or talent." ~ Nancy Kress

"Never buy an editor or publisher a lunch or a drink until he has bought an article, story or book from you. This rule is absolute and may be broken only at your peril." ~ John Creasey

"You become a writer when you write -- not when someone decides your writing will be published."

[Susan Anwin]

Originally Posted by CaroGirl

"Rejected pieces aren't failures; unwritten pieces are" ~ Greg Daugherty

"There are two wrong reactions to a rejection slip: deciding it's a final judgment on your story and/or talent, and deciding it's no judgment on your story and/or talent." ~ Nancy Kress

"Never buy an editor or publisher a lunch or a drink until he has bought an article, story or book from you. This rule is absolute and may be broken only at your peril." ~ John Creasey

"You become a writer when you write -- not when someone decides your writing will be published."

where does the last one come from?

[Susie]

"I wrote for twelve years and collected 250 rejection slips before getting any fiction published, so I guess outside reinforcement isn't all that important to me."
Author: Lisa Alther

[Julie Worth]

From an essay by the editor of the Atlantic:

"Some magazines confuse the issue by using more than one rejection form. The Atlantic Monthly, for many years, sent a rejection slip printed in italics, conveying measured admiration for the work being returned and apologizing for the necessity of the printed form. Many writers who received this form (some of whom had long experience with the more cursory basic rejection) believed they were finally on the verge of an important breakthrough and would remind us with every submission that they were now among the chosen. Little could they have imagined that those italicized forms were intended, by a now-departed editor, to be sent to the population groups who seemed most likely to expect special handling: the very old, the very young, prison inmates, mental patients, and others with an exaggerated sense of professional importance."

[lwallace]

Originally Posted by Julie Worth

From an essay by the editor of the Atlantic:

"Some magazines confuse the issue by using more than one rejection form. The Atlantic Monthly, for many years, sent a rejection slip printed in italics, conveying measured admiration for the work being returned and apologizing for the necessity of the printed form. "

That is hilarious. At one point, I was an editor for a regional literary/art anthology. I only had scores of works to consider, not hundreds (after a preliminary cut was made). Then I was sole judge. Honestly, I had the time to write something personal to every rejected entrant. It cost me a little time to do that, but I just felt I owed them something. This piece about the Atlantic Monthly makes me wonder whether I didn't just created false hope.

[FloVoyager]

One editor's trash is another's treasure.

[Edita A Petrick]

It dates to early 90s, was typed on typewriter on personal stationery, and came from Jean V. Naggar. I'm sure I have the note somewhere in my boxes of rejections. This one glows neon-green in my head whenever I sit down to write...yet another story.

It said: "It's important to grab the reader from the first sentence. Kick your heroine out the door and then re-submit."

I never did manage to shed the first 100 pages of this particular novel to actually start it where the heroine is kicked out the door...but the rejection served me as a great inspirational, orienting, and motivating tool for later works.

[Williebee]

All through my high school, raging hormone phase, I was short, acned, and didn't own a mirror. You think I can't handle rejection?

[janetbellinger]

"We are not literary agents." That one came not so many years ago before I found out there are lots of other types of agents than literary ones. Talk abut feeling embarrassed. But that's me, act first and read the instructions later.

[ErylRavenwell]

Originally Posted by Greenwolf103

"The vital point to remember is that the swine who just sent your pearl of a story back with nothing but a coffee-stain and a printed rejection slip can be wrong. You cannot take it for granted that he is wrong, but you have an all-important margin of hope that might be enough to keep you going."- Brian Stableford

I love this. Even though this is not the zeitgeist, this comment captures the spirit of many a psychotic writer.

[Don Allen]

From a really hot chick I wanted to date in High school. "You're kinda of cute, but I can't date a guy without a great car, sorry. (20 years later I got a great car and she got 4 kids and 175lbs) Than God for some rejections.

[reigningcatsndogs]

"We only publish Canadian authors", then mailed the envelope to BC!! Didn't get the memo that we were kicked out of the Dominon!!

[funidream]

The heart of my query letter circled along with a big "YUCK!" handwritten next to it.

I can and have handled a ton of rejection, but that one pissed me off and oddly, kept me going.

I have two-book deal with Berkley/Penguin now.

[kristie911]

Originally Posted by funidream

The heart of my query letter circled along with a big "YUCK!" handwritten next to it.

Ouch!

I always hate the, "I didn't love it" line. Okay, well did you like it at all? Even a little?

[JosephineDamian]

This is the quote that inspired me to start my Quote It Write blog - an inspirational, illustrated blog of writing quotes:

“To ward off
a feeling of failure,
she joked that
she could wallpaper
her bathroom with
rejection slips,
which she chose not
to see as messages
to stop,
but rather as tickets
to the game.”

Anita Shreve from “The Last Time They Met”

http://quoteitwrite.blogspot.com

[Chumplet]

"I didn't feel compelling enough to continue reading."

[Melanie Lane]

"We feel that there is not and never will be a place in the market for your manuscript"

I've gotten two of those from different agents. It motivated me.

[lostlore]

"I'm sorry to say [YOUR BOOK] is ultimately not quite right for me, but this is completely subjective and someone else may feel differently."

Yes, ma'am, I do -- the book's perfect for you! My uncle thinks so, too. And so does my mom!

[gerrydodge]

I won't tell you what agent wrote this, but it has inspired me to keep my eye on the ball for all these past years. One of these days...

You seem like a nice guy, and I just want to tell you,
while I'm not going to ask to see your book, I do want
to tell you a few crucial mistakes you made in your
query that will scare off almost any agent. Please
don't use this act of generosity on my part as an
excuse to stalk me.

First, no agent wants to pick up another agent's
dregs, so lose this part:


> I was being represented by Jay Poynor Group in New
> York for a detective novel
> I'd written, TOMMY MARBACH'S SON. While there was
> some interest in the
> novel--St.Martins passed it around to three
> editors--it ultimately didn't sell.

We've all been around this block a thousand times and
even getting to ed board at St. Martin's is not really
that impressive.

Self-review is also a problem-- you and whose mother?
CF:

I think I have a
> damn good character in Christian Marbach--I have
> just written a very beautiful
> novel that is much more literary.


Reviews by friends, parents, etc. are even worse:

Those friends who
> have read it say it
> reminds them of Pete Dexter's PAPERBOY.

This is also a no-no:

> The moral decisions
> Tim is then faced with will make this novel an
> instant best-seller and a
> book that once put down will lure its readers back
> to its pages of this
> breathtakingly beautifully crafted tale.


Anyhow, I know it's a bitch, it's cold out there, this
is a tough, cruel and cold business, but you should
try to bolster the appeal of your pitch by 1) sticking
to the facts and 2) get more magazine publications.

Magazines don't pay much, but think about it. If you
were a corporation looking to acquire a new author (or
as they think of it, a brand) would you acquire one
that was totally untested or one that had had some
success? If you were NASA, would you pick the test
pilot with thousands of hours of logged light time--
or the guy who liked to think he'd make a good
astronaut? You're asking a company to invest
thousands of dollars into your work-- show them you've
busted your ass already to perfect your craft. The
only ways to show them that are 1) get published in
magazines; 2) get published by some other company and
sell well (this option includes self-publishing, but
the "sell well" part is the kicker) 3) get blurbs from
established writers; 3) create an audience for
yourself in some other way; 4) be the young boy-toy of
the publisher. The only way around this is to write
absolutely brilliantly, in which case you could
achieve 3) and wouldn't need to get around it anyhow.

That's my frank advice-- all for free! Good luck.

At least I got a good laugh:

"We felt that there were issues with your submitted story that would require more resources then we currently have at our disposal."

This was from a crit group (hey, I thought we were supposed to be bolstering each other!) But I'm not sure if this is a comment on my ms or their crit group...

Seems to be general knowledge that JK Rowling was rejected quite a few times before HP was taken on. But my favourite is the urban myth (?) that an uber-famous author, for whose work publishers were gagging, submitted a ms. to a top Lit. Agent under an assumed name. Needless to say, said ms. was rejected.

Here's a thought, next time try writing to an agent about why they shouldn't accept your book. It's offensive, draggs on, steps on too many toes for too few reasons. I'd bet you'd getter a better reply than your standard 'I didn't like it but someone else might'.

-Szary