I imagine many of you have seen this, but for those who haven't:
"In 1969, ... Jerzy Kosinski published a novel, Steps, which won the National Book Award. In 1975 a freelance writer named Chuck Ross was convinced that unknown writers just didn't have a chance.... To test his theory, Ross typed out the first 21 pages of Steps and sent them to 4 publishers, using the psuedonym 'Erik Demos'. All four rejected the sample.
In 1977 Ross typed out the entire book and, again using the name Erik Demos, sent it to 10 publishers and 13 agents. One publisher was Random House, which had originally published Steps in 1969. The manuscript was neither recognized nor accepted by any publishers or agents, including Random House, which used a form rejection letter."
The citation for this is "Getting Rejected? Feeling Dejected?" by Gloria Delamar. I would be happy to learn that it's just an urban legend. But it sounds all too true....
"In 1969, ... Jerzy Kosinski published a novel, Steps, which won the National Book Award. In 1975 a freelance writer named Chuck Ross was convinced that unknown writers just didn't have a chance.... To test his theory, Ross typed out the first 21 pages of Steps and sent them to 4 publishers, using the psuedonym 'Erik Demos'. All four rejected the sample.
In 1977 Ross typed out the entire book and, again using the name Erik Demos, sent it to 10 publishers and 13 agents. One publisher was Random House, which had originally published Steps in 1969. The manuscript was neither recognized nor accepted by any publishers or agents, including Random House, which used a form rejection letter."
The citation for this is "Getting Rejected? Feeling Dejected?" by Gloria Delamar. I would be happy to learn that it's just an urban legend. But it sounds all too true....
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