Literary suspense and psychological thriller author
Categories: On Writingpublishing

The Art of Rejection: Kathryn Stockett’s tale of never giving up

More Magazine features an essay by Kathryn Stockett, author of the wildly successful novel The Help, now a wildly successful film. It’s an old story, but worth repeating: novelist gets a zillion rejections, or 60, to be more precise, before finally landing an agent, a publisher, and a long-running spot at the top of just about every bestseller list you can imagine.

Stockett’s advice for writers and anyone else who keeps hitting a brick wall? “Give in to your obsession.”

Click here to get free downloads from the Guided Workbooks for Writers series.

In the end, I received 60 rejections for The Help. But letter number 61 was the one that accepted me. After my five years of writing and three and a half years of rejection, an agent named Susan Ramer took pity on me. What if I had given up at 15? Or 40? Or even 60? Three weeks later, Susan sold The Help to Amy Einhorn Books.

For Stockett, 61 was the magic number. With The Year of Fog, my magic number wasn’t far behind. I like to believe that every good book has a magic number, that books will find their way into the hands of a receptive agent and editor given enough time and persistence. For me, the agent was Valerie Borchardt, and the editor was Caitlin Alexander, and I consider my book very fortunate to have fallen into their hands.

So if you have a book that keeps coming back with a form letter that says, “Unfortunately, this book is not quite right for us,” don’t give up. Envision in your mind a magic number. You don’t know it yet. No one does. It could be twenty rejections from now, or forty. Or it could be just one.

Related: What if the only thing standing between you and publication is a great revision? Visit the Book Doctor now.

Michelle Richmond

Michelle Richmond is the New York Times and Sunday Times bestselling author of The Marriage Pact, Golden State, The Year of Fog, No One You Know, Dream of the Blue Room, Hum, and The Girl in the Fall-Away Dress. Her books have been published in 30 languages. A native of Alabama, she makes her home in Northern California and Paris.

Share
Published by
Michelle Richmond

Recent Posts

By the Time You Read This

a serial novella By the time you read this I will be unreachable. I will…

1 year ago

Notes on a Marriage

by way of Joan Didion Not long ago I told my husband, “The book I…

1 year ago

Tenderest

an audio story, exclusive to subscribers I recently published an audio story for subscribers to…

2 years ago

November Notes

You'll find a brief and mostly true story, Les Oeufs: A Mystery on Quai de Grenelle,…

2 years ago

Five Things I Love (& 5 I Can Do Without)

Cafe Kitsune Paris, with book from Librarie Galignani When I go through a dry spell…

3 years ago

The Wonder Test discussion questions

Is your book club reading THE WONDER TEST? Here are a few questions to kick…

3 years ago

Join the newsletter to stay in the loop