I guess you know the story by now, of how the Harry Potter series became the bestselling children’s books of all times? How J.K. Rowling finally got an agent and how that agent shopped her manuscript around to publisher after publisher, but with no luck. They all turned it down until finally, one beautiful day, an editor happened to bring the manuscript home where his eight year old daughter just happened to read it, and viola, the manuscript was published. Not because of the skill of any editors – they ALL turned it down, but because of the wants of a reader, a consumer, a book buyer and voracious little reader. Ultimately the best selling children’s book series of all times was discovered not by the established publishing houses and by any of their ‘taste judges’, but by an ordinary reader, just like you and me.

The examples of great literature that has been turned away from the publishing houses are too many to list. The enormous struggle to get published, not just in the present age, but historically too, is outlandish, especially when one considers the greatness of many, many authors who were ultimately after years of trying eventually picked up and published. Thank God they didn’t give up. But the question remains – why is it so difficult and why are so many talented authors turned away? Does it not make you wonder what else is turned down and not discovered in the end? Many authors tried their best, over and over again, and finally gave up. Like John Kennedy Toole with his sublime Confederacy of Dunces (he gave up, but his mother did not and finally managed to have his work accepted). Others take matters into their own hands and start out by self publishing, like John Grisham, who practically invented the lawyer/crime genre.

If you are interested in an amusing, but ultimately quite sad read, pick up a copy of ‘Rotten Reviews and Rejections’ where the following cute tidbits can be found:

“It is impossible to sell animal stories in the USA”

Excerpt from rejection letter for: Animal Farm by George Orwell

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

Excerpt from rejection letter for: The Diary of Anne Frank

“It does not seem to us that you have been wholly successful in working out an admittedly promising idea.”

Excerpt from rejection letter for Lord of the Flies by William Golding

“It would be in extremely rotten taste, to say nothing of being horribly cruel, should we want to publish it.”

Excerpt from rejection letter for: The torrents of spring by Ernest Hemingway

“…only mildly interesting…it contributes nothing new to either language or form.”

Excerpt from rejection letter for: The World according to Garp by John Irving

The question is thus – what does it take to get published? Do you have to have extreme talent? No, it doesn’t seem so. When not even established literary greats seem to be able to get published today, then what hope is there for novices? A few years back V.S. Naipul’s manuscript to “In a Free State” and “a Holiday” by Stanley Middleton, were sent to 20 publishers and agents. All but one rejected both manuscripts and even worse, none of the professional publishers recognized the manuscripts for what they were, namely the works of an author who is considered one of Britain’s greatest living writers and that of a Booker prize winning author.

When Doris Lessing submitted one of her manuscripts to her very own publisher, but under a pseudonym, she too was rejected. And when Jane Austen’s manuscripts were submitted under a false name, with key names and titles changed, not only did 18 editors reject them but only one recognized her work. Come on people, how can you work in publishing, with English as the major language, and probably as most editors be an English lit major, and not recognize that famous first sentence; “It is a truth universally acknowledged….”?

So really what is going on here? Are editors not only grossly uneducated as to English literature but also incapable of realizing when they do have good literature in their hands? Or is that they are overworked and underpaid (are they really?), or is it that that the Slush Pile is too high and that they have to read far too many manuscripts?

Well, my answer can hardly come as a surprise. I simply believe that editors are not representative of the readers. Editors and publishing houses do not posses special talent and greater taste than the rest of us. What one editor likes or dislikes is not always, if ever, relevant to the majority of readers. I believe in my core that readers do not need editors to tell them what to read. I believe readers can discover that for themselves and, of course, Slush Pile Reader is the way to go about it….

Sources:
All rejection quotes are from “Pushcart’s Complete Rotten Reviews and Rejections: A History of Insult, A Solace to Writers” (Literary Companion Series)
Jane Austen fan submits her work anonymously to publishers… and receives a dozen rejections
Publishers toss Booker winners into the reject pile

A bunch of famous authors including Lionel Shriver, Philip Pullman and Roddy Doyle were asked to pick their favorite books of the decade in a recent British survey. In Holland, a similar survey was carried out and the results were quite similar, even though the Dutch survey included more non English books.

I found the lists quite interesting – so this is what these best selling authors themselves like out of all the wonderful books out there. Many choices are quite predictable and stuffy, whereas others surprised me pleasantly by their lack of pretensions. Of course someone had to throw Parmuk’s Snow in there. It is so called deep and commonly accepted as cultural, and of course he is a Nobel laureate (and honestly compared to some recent laureates he is very readable… Muller, Jelinek, Oe…I rest my case).

Others on the list though, I do not get, such as Mc Carthy’s the Road, I am sorry, I know its the hottest thing out there but I simply do not see the greatness. Frankly I think it is damn unoriginal and uninspiring. I actually think it resembles the movie ‘28 days‘, and that second rate movie was far more scary and had a more interesting narrative. The Road, of course, has all the bits and pieces; serious elements of doom, personal tragedy yet still hope, but in comparison to other future dystopia, it is pale. Think Atwood’s Oryx and Crake , Orwell, Nevil Shute’s On The Beach, all which I found far superior. Mostly when reading the Road I felt I had read and or seen it a million times prior.

Another choice I do not get is Platform, Michel Houellebecq’s, 2000 bestseller. I know French writer Houellebecq is huge in Europe and that the French love him (they would, wouldn’t they now…) but seriously, I haven’t read anything this kinky since, well I don’t know… never… and it is not a good kinky, just pretty nasty and soiled. Then again, maybe that’s what people like about his books? Houellebecq makes someone like Henry Miller seem like he fits right in at Sunday school. (They both wrote from Paris and they both explored, whatchamacallit, sex, from a ‘novel’ perspective, hence the comparison)

Of course British sensation (I was about to write teen sensation but not any more, so) Zadie Smith was on the list with both On Beauty and White Teeth. I actually liked White Teeth very much and I also enjoyed On Beauty, but On Beauty also seemed old, like it has been done before. Writers like David Lodge and Robertson Davies have both done the academic, scholarly thing before and better at that. I was pleasantly surprised to see Jonathan Franzen’s Corrections on the list. That is one book that I adored. I did try a couple of his other books hoping they would stack up, but unfortunately I never had the same Franzen experience with them

Ok, so this is what the so called pros thought, and of course my thoughts on what the pros thought. What do you think? Help me out, let’s compile Slush Pile Reader’s very own books of the decade. Give me your thoughts and well have a very unscientific poll, compiled and controlled by me. I will start out: of all the books from 2000 to 2010 my favorite is…. Prep, by Curtis Sittenfeld. No wait, it is Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake, or perhaps the Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion…or of course, the Kiterunner by Khaled Hosseini…

Here at Slush Pile Reader, we love books, we love to read, and we think that when it comes to finding great novels, traditional publishing isn’t doing its job. We know that there are tons of great writers out there with unbelievably good manuscripts, but these manuscripts have no way of reaching an audience because traditional publishers, it seems, are no longer reading through the slush pile. They are no longer looking outside of their community of already established authors to find great books.

We believe that Slush Pile Reader is the perfect way to create another type of community, a place in which readers and writers, rather than marketing and publishing executives, decide which books get published.

A couple times a week, we at Slush Pile Reader The Blog will be sharing highlights from Slush Pile Reader manuscripts and looking through the Internet for links you’ll love. We’ll also be giving you our thoughts on issues facing readers, editors, writers and publishers today and bringing in exciting guest bloggers to give you their views.

But this blog is not about us. This blog will be about and for the people of the Slush Pile Reader community. If you have have a link you’d like to share, send it to  blog editor at blog@slushpilereader.com. If you have some thoughts on something we’ve posted, tell us about them. You can start by leaving some comments on the this blog in the comment section below.

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