"In 1797, Thomas Cadell made one of the greatest mistakes in publishing history. A Hampshire clergyman had written to him, offering a three-volume novel for publication by a first-time author. Without a word of encouragement, Cadell declined the book, manuscript unseen, by return of post.
"Unfortunately for Cadell, the clergyman was the Revd George Austen, soliciting publication on his daughter Jane's behalf, and the novel in question was an early version of Pride and Prejudice
~ From Mark Bostridge's review of Claire Harman's Jane's Fame: How Jane Austen Conquered the World
• Thanks to the Shelf Awareness newsletter for this item.
• Image of Jane Austen from TVO's Jane Austen bio page
For more encouragement on dealing with rejection, see Feeling Rejected? Don't Be Dejected!
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
When Publishers Reject You, It Could Just Be Because They're Stupid
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4 comments:
Very interesting tidbit!
So many stories like that one!
Dozens of publishers turned down "The Shack" now been on NY Times Bestselling list for 50+ weeks.
I wonder what the ratio was back in the day between submissions and actual publication? It seems a wonder these days that any submission finds a reader, but in the eighteenth century you would imagine he would at least have the courtesy of cutting the string on the package.
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