Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Don't call us



Dear Mr./Mrs./Ms./Miss J. K, Rowling:


At this time, we must decline your submission of Harry Potter 
and the Sorcerer's Stone. Unfortunately, the manuscript reeks 
of being completed on a manual typewriter. For heaven's sake, it 
is 1997. Do you own a computer?

--From a rejection letter for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling

(rejected by 12 publishers)





We are not interested in science fiction which deals 
with negative utopias. They do not sell.

--From a rejection letter for Carrie, by Stephen King

(rejected by 30 publishers)






Too different from other juveniles on the market to warrant its selling.

--From a rejection letter for Dr. Seuss's 
And to Think That I Saw it on MULBERRY STREET

(rejected by 28 publishers)





The girl doesn't, it seems to me, have a special perception or feeling 
which would lift that book above the 'curiousity' level.

--From a rejection letter for The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

(rejected by 15 publishers)





I recommend that it be buried under a stone for a thousand years.

--From a rejection letter for Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

(rejected by 7 publishers)



1 comment:

Kimparklee said...

These are hysterical, especially the one about burying the Nabokov book under a stove for a 1000 years. Reminds me of what I told a client some years back.....