14 Best-Selling Books Repeatedly Rejected by Publishers

Do you have a binder filled with rejection letters for your book?

If so, you’re not alone. I accumulated almost 70 before I signed with my literary agent. There were even more when he began shopping the novel around in NYC.

The authors below were rejected, too. Some over 100 times. All of them SEVERAL times. But every one of them went on to become phenomenal bestsellers because they chose to not give up.

Many have even sold several *millions* of copies of their once-rejected work.

Here’s a sneak peek at a few of them:

1. Carrie (Stephen King): 30 rejections (for Carrie alone; over 100 more if you count earlier titles.)
2. Chicken Soup for the Soul (Jack Canfield & Mark Victor Hansen): 140 rejections. Has now sold over 80 million copies.
3. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (Robert Pirsig): 121 rejections.
4. Gone with the Wind (Margaret Mitchell): 38 rejections
5. A Wrinkle in Time (Madeleine L’Engle)

See all 14 bestselling authors in this list whose manuscripts were rejected

So if you’re a writer and are dealing with more rejection than you sometimes think you can handle, you’re in (very) good company. Dealing with rejection is tough. A lot of us never quite get used to it.

Today when faced with it, though, I remember a quotation that bestselling novelist HP Mallory shared with me in an interview a couple of months ago:

“Perfer et obdura, dolor hic tibi proderit olim.” — Latin from Ovid.

It means:  Be patient and tough. Someday this pain will be useful to you.

Nicely said, don’t you think?

Take 5 seconds to sign up for our free Weekly Update. You’ll be glad you did! You can also support WritersBreak.com by sharing posts with your friends via Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and/or email by using the buttons below. We’d really appreciate it.