Here’s what some publishers said about books they rejected. THERE’S HOPE FOR US ALL YET!

ON THE ROAD by Jack Kerouac
‘His frenetic and scrambled prose perfectly express the feverish travels of the Beat Generation. But is that enough? I don’t think so.’

Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D H Lawrence
‘for your own sake do not publish this book.’

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
‘an irresponsible holiday story’

Lord of the Flies by William Golding
‘an absurd and uninteresting fantasy which was rubbish and dull.’

Watership Down by Richard Adams
‘older children wouldn’t like it because its language was too difficult.’

Crash by J G Ballard
‘The author of this book is beyond psychiatric help.’

The Deer Park by Norman Mailer
‘This will set publishing back 25 years.’

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos
‘Do you realize, young woman, that you’re the first American writer ever to poke fun at sex.’

The Diary of Anne Frank
‘The girl doesn’t, it seems to me, have a special perception or feeling which would lift that book above the “curiosity” level.’

Lust for Life by Irving Stone
(which was rejected 16 times, but found a publisher and went on to sell about 25 million copies)
‘ A long, dull novel about an artist.’

The Spy who Came in from the Cold by John le Carré
‘You’re welcome to le Carré – he hasn’t got any future.’

Animal Farm by George Orwell
‘It is impossible to sell animal stories in the USA’

Lady Windermere’s Fan by Oscar Wilde
‘My dear sir,
I have read your manuscript. Oh, my dear sir.’

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
‘… overwhelmingly nauseating, even to an enlightened Freudian … I recommend that it be buried under a stone for a thousand years.’

 

 

see all my books here:  http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tom-OBrien/e/B0034OIGOQ/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1388083522&sr=1-2-ent