Never give up

by Mary Dinan

Need encouragement? Never give up!

You've written your book. You have put in hours of love, labour and language. Now all you have to do is get someone to believe in it the way you do.

Remember you only need one door to open.

I met with many rejections while submitting proposals, and failure to get an agent was really discouraging. It was then I decided I would be my own agent and approach the publishers. For this, what you need is a one page query to send off and if the publisher is interested they will request a full book proposal. It really saves so much time to email a simple query. It also helps to have the name of the Publishing Director. And it helps to identify the genres which interest your chosen publisher.

A very good friend and columnist with The Sunday Times sent me a text saying, 'Persistence is everything.' During times of doubt I re-opened his text.

Think of all the great authors who met with rejection before becoming published. If you get rejection letters giving the same reason for the rejection time after time, it might be worth taking note and making ammendments but sometimes it may be just the wrong time in that particular place or the wrong genre for that publisher.

Remember you only need one yes. Maybe you are asking, 'well how do you know'?

I know because I've been through all the rejections and doubts. Any positive feedback you get from your rejection letter, keep it in your head for it will keep you going on the dark days.

There was one literary agent I contacted in London in the early days of writing my travel book and he told me that even though it wasn't for him it was 'publishable.' His words spurred me to keep going when all those manuscripts came back. That one straw made the difference between giving up and hanging in there.

It might surprise you to hear that George Orwell suffered rejection. Animal Farm was firmly rejected.
Stephen king had oodles of rejections for his Carrie novel but it didn't stop him. Lord of the flies was rejected by 20 publishers, one saying it was 'un- interesting rubbish and dull'. What would have happened if William Golding had listened?

J.K. Rowling may well have been discouraged as her book Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s stone was rejected by no less than 12 major publishers. Many offering the rejection letters were major publishers. Never underestimate the power of a small press. Never give up.

John le Carré, author of The spy Who Came In From The Cold was told he had no future by one such publisher. If he had listened this book would never have seen the light of day.

These are just a few authors who experienced the closed doors, only to find that one door opened and that was all they needed. Hang in there. It can happen swiftly and unexpectedly.

There is nothing like the joy of a book contract in your hand!