Stephen King, you may have heard that name, received dozens of rejections for his first novel, Carrie; he kept them tidily nailed to a spike under a timber in his bedroom.
One of the publishers sent Mr. King's rejection with these words:
We are not interested in science fiction which deals with negative utopias. They do not sell.
J. K. Rowling's (you may have heard that name as well)Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s (later Sorceror’s) Stone was rejected by a dozen publishers, including biggies like Penguin and HarperCollins. Bloomsbury, a small London publisher, only took it on at the behest of the CEO’s eight-year old daughter, who begged her father to print the book. I wonder if Jo sent her advanced copies of all her books -regardless, thank God daughters tend to have inexplicable influence over their fathers (yes, from personal experience)
William Golding's (you may not recognize the name until you hear the title), Lord of the Flies was rejected by 20 publishers. One denounced the future classic with these words:
An absurd and uninteresting fantasy which was rubbish and dull.
