Adding Scott Jeffrey's "Enlightened Business" blog to our Feed Me sidebar after seeing his post about ignoring the critics. Just a few examples of titanically wrong calls on the part of agents, editors and reviewers...
I know you've probably heard these before, but it's important to be reminded every once in a while that opinions are like...well, you know. Everybody has one. And the only one that matters is your own.
Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
“The girl doesn’t, it seems to me, have a special perception or feeling which would lift that book above the ‘curiosity’ level.”
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
“It does not seem to us that you have been wholly successful in working out an admittedly promising idea.”
And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street by Dr. Seuss
“Too different from the other [books for] juveniles on the market to warrant its selling.”
Animal Farm by George Orwell
“It is impossible to sell animal stories in the USA.”
The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
“I’m sorry, Mr. Kipling, but you just don’t know how to use the English language.”
Carrie by Stephen King
“We are not interested in science fiction which deals with negative utopias. They do not sell.”
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
“I haven’t really the foggiest idea about what the man is trying to say… Apparently the author intends it to be funny – possibly even satire – but it is really not funny on any intellectual level.”
I know you've probably heard these before, but it's important to be reminded every once in a while that opinions are like...well, you know. Everybody has one. And the only one that matters is your own.
Comments
There is no book for every reader, and it's not only unrealistic but egotistical to imagine yours will be the exception to that rule. Your job is only to keep submitting 'til you find someone representative of the book's true audience.
With any luck, anyway!
There is no book for every reader, and it's not only unrealistic but egotistical to imagine yours will be the exception to that rule. Your job is only to keep submitting 'til you find someone representative of the book's true audience.
With any luck, anyway!
This was a great post to remind us to keep feedback in perspective.
Very excited to discover your blog today and have added it as a permanent link on mine. Great post.
Kind of re-defines how subjective this whole business is...:)
TJB
Thanks for sharing, Colleen!
~Deb