novelist spend age developing their craft , editing and reediting their body of work , agonizing over the smallest Logos , often to be rejected by publishing firm after publishing house . The follow famous books and authors were move around down by publishing firm at least 15 times before they became household names.
Find the first in our leaning of best sellers repeatedly rejected by publishers on the next page .
1. Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis
base on his party - throwing , out - of - control aunt , Patrick Dennis ’s story fix in 1955 what Americans now recognize as " encampment . " However , before Vanguard Press picked it up , 15 other publisher rejected it . Within years , Auntie Mamewould not only become a collision on Broadway but a pop film as well . Dennis became a millionaire and , in 1956 , was the first generator in history to have three book at the same time range onThe New York Timesbest - vendor list .
2. Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach
Richard Bach has always state that this story , told from the point of eyeshot of a vernal seagull , was n’t written but channeled . When he mail out the write up , Bach received 18 rejection letters . Nobody thought a story about a gull that fly not for survival but for the pleasure of fly itself would have an interview . Boy , were they wrong ! Macmillan Publishers eventually picked upJonathan Livingston Seagullin 1972 , and that year the book sold more than a million copies . A movie followed in 1973 , with a sound track by Neil Diamond .
3. Chicken Soup for the Soul by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen
Within a month of relegate the first manuscript to write houses , the originative squad behind this multimillion dollar sign series got turned down 33 consecutive times . publishing house claimed that " anthology do n’t sell " and the book was " too positive . " Total number of rejections ? 140 . Then , in 1993 , the president of Health Communications guide a chance on the compendium of poems , stories , and tidbit of boost . Today , the 65 - title series has sold more than 80 million copies in 37 languages .
4. Kon-Tiki by Thor Heyerdahl
With a name like Thor , adventure on the gamy seas is sort of a given , is n’t it ? In 1947 , Heyerdahl took a crew of six military man on a 4,300 - mile journey across the Pacific Ocean . But not on a sail ship – their watercraft was a reproduction of a prehistoric Ochroma lagopus wood raft , and the only modernistic equipment they carry was a radio . Heyerdahl compose the true news report of his journey from Peru to Polynesia , but when he assay to get it issue , he could n’t . One publisher asked him if anyone had drowned . When Heyerdahl pronounce no , they rejected him on the ground that the story would n’t be very interesting . In 1953 , after 20 rejections , Kon - Tikifinally found a publisher – and an audience . The book is now available in 66 languages .
5. The Peter Principle by Laurence Peter
In 1969 , after 16 reported rejections , Canadian professor Laurence Peter ’s business book about bad direction finally scram a green light from Bantam Books . Within one year , the hardback version ofThe Peter Principlewas in its fifteenth reprint . Peter go on to writeThe Peter Prescription , The Peter Plan , and the unintentionally amusingThe Peter Pyramid : Will We Ever Get to the Point?None of Peter ’s follow - up books did as well as the original , but no one can deny the Quran ’s impingement on business publication .
6. Dubliners by James Joyce
It took 22 rejections before a publisher took a probability on a immature James Joyce in 1914 . They did n’t take too prominent of a hazard – only 1,250 copies ofDublinerswere initially published . Joyce ’s popularity did n’t shoot right aside ; out of the 379 copies that sell in the first twelvemonth , Joyce himself purchased 120 of them . Joyce would go on to be consider as one of the most influential writers of the 20th hundred . Dubliners , a aggregation of unretentive stories , is among the most popular of Joyce ’s titles , which includeA Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man , Finnegans Wake , andUlysses .
7. Lorna Doone by Richard Doddridge Blackmore
You know you ’ve done well when you ’ve get a cooky name after your novel ’s heroine . Not only does Nabisco ’s Lorna Doone cooky remind us of Blackmore ’s classic , but there are almost a 12 big - blind or TV interlingual rendition of the story as well . This Devon - set love affair of contention and retaliation was turn down 18 metre before being published in 1889 . Today , Blackmore is deal one of the greatest British writer of the 19th 100 , though his popularity has waned over time .
8. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig
Pirsig ’s ms attempts to empathise the true import of liveliness . By the clock time it was finally published in 1974 , the book had been turned down 121 sentence . The editor who finally publishedZen and the artistic creation of Motorcycle Maintenancesaid of Pirsig ’s book , " It forced me to decide what I was in publishing for . " Indeed , Zenhas consecrate million of reader an accessible , enjoyable book for seeking perceptiveness into their own lives .
9. MAS*H by Richard Hooker
Before the television serial , there was the photographic film . Before the film , there was the novel . Richard Hooker ’s unforgettable book about a medical unit serving in the Korean War was disdain by 21 newspaper publisher before eventually seeing the light of daylight . It stay a story of courage and friendship that plug in with audiences around the world in time of war and peace .
Our list of repeatedly rejected best - sell books remain on the next page with a revulsion classic .
10. Carrie by Stephen King
If it had n’t been for Stephen King ’s wife , Tabitha , the iconic icon of a young girl in a prom dress covered in pig ’s bloodline would not survive . King receive 30 rejection for his story of a tormented girl with telekinetic powers , and then he threw it in the trash . Tabitha angle it out . King sent his story around again and , eventually , Carriewas write . The novel became a classic in the repulsion musical genre and has enjoyed moving-picture show and video adaptations as well . Sometimes all it takes is a little boost from someone who believes in you .
11. Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
The only book that Margaret Mitchell ever publish , locomote With the Windwon her a Pulitzer Prize in 1937 . The story of Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler , set in the South during the Civil War , was rejected by 38 publishers before it was print . The 1939 motion picture made of Mitchell ’s love level , which star Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh , is the high-pitched gross Hollywood film of all metre ( adjusted for inflation ) .
12. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
The publishing home of Farrar , Straus and Giroux was smart enough to recognize the genius in L’Engle ’s tale for masses of all eld . write in 1962 , the chronicle was award the prestigious Newbery Medal the following year . Wrinkle remains one of the best - selling children ’s book of all metre , and the story of precocious children and the wizard human beings they discover was adapt for boob tube in 2001 . Still , L’Engle compile 26 rejections before this success come her way .
13. Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison by Charles Shaw
In 1952 , Crown Publishing Group in New York took a chance on the story of a shipwreck in the South Pacific . Shaw , an Australian writer , was refuse by dozens of publisher on his own continent and by an estimated 20 British publication house , too . By 1957 , this humorous narration was made into a movie starring Deborah Kerr and Robert Mitchum . The story and the movie are turn over war classic and garnered several Academy Award nominations , including one for Best Writing .
14. Dune by Frank Herbert
This epic scientific discipline - fabrication level was rejected by 23 publisher before being accepted by Chilton , a small Philadelphia publishing house . Dunequickly became a success , winning award such as the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1966.Dunewas follow by five sequels , and though none did as well as the original , a film version of the book starring rock’n’roll star Sting did quite well and remains a cult favorite .
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS:
Helen Davies , Marjorie Dorfman , Mary Fons , Deborah Hawkins , Martin Hintz , Linnea Lundgren , David Priess , Julia Clark Robinson , Paul Seaburn , Heidi Stevens , and Steve Theunissen
