While many hopeful authors are downtrodden with the weight of rejection letters, it’s worth remembering that even our best loved authors have seen a few rejections along the way. Hunter S. Thompson famously sent a scathing rejection to Anthony Burgess, and Pride and Prejudice received some terrible reviews when it was released. So many a rejection letter means you’re in good company, and literary company doesn’t get much better than J. K Rowling, who shared her own Galbraith rejection letters on Twitter this week to inspire other authors.
It’s now well known that Galbraith is the famous Harry Potter author, but when Rowling was first trying to find a publisher under the pseudonym for The Cuckoo’s Calling, she received several rejections.
Publishers Constable & Robinson said it could not publish the novel with commercial success, suggestion that Galbraith “double check in a helpful bookshop” or check the “buyer’s guide of Bookseller magazine” for suitable publishers of the genre. The letter also suggests a writing group or course for the author, and it’s all fairly helpful advice until you consider that the author in question was J. K Rowling.
The author was responding to a fan’s request to see the rejection for Harry Potter. Rowling replied that those rejections were in the attic, but she would happily share Galbraith’s. The Cuckoo’s Calling was eventually published by Sphere Books, an imprint of Litte, Brown & Company, and the series has gone on to be very popular.
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