Today’s blog will be brief, because no one wants to dwell too long on a rejection. But, so you know you are not alone, here are some rejections that other writers have received.
Shakespeare’s name, you may depend on it, will go down. He has no invention as to stories, none whatever. —Lord Byron (1814)
A huge dose of hyperbolical slang, maudlin sentimentalism 
and tragic-comic bubble and squeak. —William Harrison Ainsworth, New Monthly Magazine, review of Moby Dick by Herman Melville (1851)
The girl doesn’t, it seems to me, have a special perception or feeling which would lift that book above the “curiosity” level. —The Diary of Anne Frank
A gross trifling with every fine word. —Springfield Republican, review of Huckleberry Finn (1884)
Ralph Waldo Emerson [is] a hoary-headed and toothless baboon. —Thomas Carlyle, Collected Works (1871)
I am sorry, Mr. Kipling, but you just do not know how to use the English language.
—San Francisco Examiner, rejection letter to Kipling (1889)
It is impossible to sell animal stories in the USA. —Animal Farm by George Orwell
We fancy that any child might be more puzzled than enchanted by this stiff, silly, overwrought story. —Children’s Books’ review of Alice In Wonderland by Lewis Carrol (1865)
And I’ll close with one I personally received from an editor at one of the big five publishers in New York for the first book I wrote. In part, it said, “Totally unrealistic. As an example, you have the man talking to his computer.”
If you’ve received an equally rediculous rejection, please leave a comment and share the rejection with us Thanks.
Jim
I’ve long forgotten the inane rejections I’ve received, but I do have an amusing story to share. My good friend, and multi-published author, Laura Castoro was lucky enough to sell her first book on the first try to Dell. While giving a presentation at a writers’ conference she mentioned that she’d never read a rejection letter and had to borrow a few of mine to know how they were written. We both still smile over that one. And she has gone on to receive a few of her own, while also amassing a terrific list of books published.
Thanks, Maryann. That’s a great comment. I know Laura and she has indeed written many good books. But then, so have you. Thanks for not having let any rejection letters stop you from producing your great books.
I would say, Jim, that the victory in your rejection was that it came from an editor of one of the BIG FIVE publishers in New York. How did you manage that? I’m impressed! LOL
You are absolutely right. Too bad he hadn’t accepted it. (But truth be known, it wasn’t a great book. And while that didn’t discourage me, I never got that book published.) He just picked on the wrong thing. But it told me to take rejections with a grain – or perhaps a bushel – of salt. Thanks for the comment.