When to Give Up?

Belle_91 said:

So I am over 100 rejections for my MS. I've gotten 12 requests over the course of almost three years. Right now I'm sitting at a 9.4% request rate and at the end of my rope. All of the rejections I got on fulls and partials were "I couldn't connect with the writing/MC" or stuff like that. I've had other beta readers look at it and posted on the forums here and people seem to love it. IDK what I'm doing wrong. I'm getting really frusterated and anxious.

Thoughts? Is there still hope? My other project has more of a success rate, but I don't want to give up on this one just yet.

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The bigger picture is that writing is a journey, not one event. For some, publication comes sooner than others. But that doesn't matter.
You are on the 'writing journey' which really only ends when a/ you die, or b/ you stop writing for some reason.
An individual book is just that, an individual book.
If it hits, great. If not, well, I don't think it matters, other than the experience you gained from it.
So, you move onto the next project, and so on, until one 'hits'.
and then you hope the next one does and so on.
But really, writing is a lifestyle, which can sometimes result in financial independence, but oftentimes, not.

As for self-publishing, if that is your chosen path for a novel, the commodity at risk is your 'new author ' status, which really is a valuable commodity. If self-publishing fails, you've spent that valuable commodity. so, my suggestion, is that you self publish under a pen name. If it sticks, you stick with the name. If it fails, no real harm done.