Even famous writers got rejected at least once in their career; we’ve compiled a list of the writers that you might not, and be fairly shocked as to how many rejections they’ve received

Stephen King:

His book Carrie received dozens of rejections from publishers. One publisher even went to include the following in the rejection letter

“We are not interested in science fiction which deals with negative utopias. They do not sell.”

And just how many books did Stephen King sell? 350 million copies in Total. Carrie sold 13,000 copies in hardback but the paperback which was released a year later sold over 1 million copies in its 1st year

William Golding:

Lord of the flies was rejected by 20 publishers. One publisher even went on and told him this

“An absurd and uninteresting fantasy which was rubbish and dull.”

Well they must have felt pretty stupid after this book was shelved as a classic

J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s (later Sorceror’s) Stone were rejected by 12 publishers, including big name publishing houses.

George Orwell

Animal Farm was rejected with the following statement:

“It is impossible to sell animal stories in the USA.”

Again another classic

John Grisham

His first novel, A Time to Kill, was rejected by 12 publishers and 16 agents

Margaret Mitchell

Guess which novel was rejected? Gone with the Wind.

Kenneth Grahame

Wind in the Willows was rejected with the following statement:

“Irresponsible holiday story”

Meg Cabot

The Princess Diaries was rejected by 17 publishers

D.H. Lawrence:

One publisher, after reading Lady Chatterley’s Lover, sent a warning:

“for your own sake do not publish this book.”

Jasper Forde

The Eyre Affair received a total number of 76 rejections before getting published

William Saroyan

You know how many rejection letter he got? 7,000! before he got published.

Now that determination for you

Agatha Christie

Four years of rejection before getting her books published

Beatrix Potter

The Tale of Peter Rabbit had to be published by Potter herself.

Dr. Seuss

Enough said

And of course many more….

– Untitled Chapters Team