Have a professional work ethic. It can make the difference between getting published and getting discouraged. - Pat Cummings

Advice for hopeful authors & illustrators: Do your research & have a professional work ethic. The professionalism you show can make the difference between getting published & getting discouraged. More great advice from author/illustrator Pat Cummings in her Inkygirl interview.

On rejections: No matter how discouraged you get, remember: always try one more time. - Billy Coffey

No matter how discouraged you get, remember - always try one more time.

- Billy Coffey

On writing success and intelligent persistence

As Ellen Jackson said, success as a writer or illustrator depends depends more on intelligent persistence than raw talent.

Excerpt from Ellen's excellent advice:

"By 'intelligent persistence' I mean the ability to learn from mistakes, to figure out what you’re doing wrong, and then to change it. I know a talented writer who gave up after one rejection from one editor. I know another writer–with very little natural writing ability--who writes and rewrites and gets rejected over and over. The first writer has never been published. The second writer has published more than thirty children’s books. As James Michener said: 'Character consists of what you do on the third or fourth tries.'"

Madeleine L'Engle's A WRINKLE IN TIME was rejected 26 times

Did you know that Madeleine L'Engle almost gave up writing when she turned 40 after getting yet another rejection notice? "With all the hours I spent writing, I was still not pulling my own weight financially." She discovered, however, that her subconscious wouldn't let her NOT write. 

"I had to write. I had no choice in the matter. It was not up to me to say I would stop because I could not. It didn't matter how small or inadequate my talent. If I never had another book published, and it was very clear to me that this was a real possibility, I still had to go on writing." (Source)

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Kathryn Stockett's THE HELP was rejected 60 times

According to a Time interview with Kathryn Stockett, The Help was rejected 60 times by agents before being picked up by Susan Ramer at Don Congdon.

The book was Kathryn's debut as a novelist and took her five years to complete. Since it came out in 2009, The Help has been published in 35 countries and three languages.

Comic: The Rejection

Kathryn Stockett's THE HELP rejected by almost 50 agents

I've recently been enjoying the audiobook version of Kathryn Stockett's bestselling book, THE HELP. I tend to listen to audiobooks whenever I'm out for a walk (in a safe neighbourhood) or doing household chores.

A post on Dystel & Goderich Literary Management site about a NYTimes article points out that Kathryn Stockett's THE HELP was initially rejected by almost 50 agents before it was picked up.

From DGLM:

But that's the way the game is played: you win some, you lose some, and the take-away for me from this story for authors is that confidence in your work, persistence, and of course a good dose of luck and timing, can make all the difference. It's a great success story, and in a time where there are so many grim reports about book publishing, it's refreshing to see a story about a book that got it all right, even if it had some stumbling blocks along the way.

Golden Marmot Winner: SlushPile Hell

Hopefully, reading through SlushPile Hell will help new writers avoid making the same mistakes as the ones made in queries to this crusty lit agent. You can also find SlushPile Hell on Twitter at @SlushPileHell.

I'm resurrecting my Golden Marmot Awards because I keep coming across sites and tweets that, while they may be a tad too cynical or crusty for my Golden Cupcake Award, still make me laugh.

Sadly, I wasn't able to import the previous winners when I moved to Squarespace, so am starting from scratch again. If you'd like to nominate a tweet for the Golden Marmot Award, feel free to RT the tweet in question with the #marmotaward hashtag.

Blog highlight: Literary Rejections On Display

Rejection always hurts. I'm skeptical of writers who claim that rejections don't bother them at all. No matter how experienced you are, I can't help but think that a rejection -ANY rejection- has got to sting at least a little. Don't know about the rest of you, but I'm saving all my rejections (paper and digital) for any particular project so I can roll them out to encourage other writers WHEN that project gets published. I certainly appreciate hearing about other writers' rejections -> success stories! I've been gradually collecting these types of successful author rejection stories on Inkygirl. One great place to find other writers' rejections is Literary Rejections On Display. The author of this blog prefers to remain anonymous, but describes himself/herself as follows: "I am a published, award-winning author of fiction and creative nonfiction--but whatever. In the eyes of many, I am still a literary reject." URL: http://literaryrejectionsondisplay.blogspot.com

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