A Hog of a Tale
OK, so back to that word failure... it's still rattling around in my head. I remembered a story I read out of the 2005 Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market (one of my life goals is to have a children's book on the market that I have both written and illustrated!). One of their featured authors was a woman named Kelly DiPucchio. Kelly was a stay-at-home Mom turned writer and from 1994 to 1998 "...she continuously wrote and submitted her work--and continuously got rejected." In 1999, she got the idea for a book about a family of pigs... Bed Hogs.
Having been unable to place her previous work on her own and having received nearly 200 rejection letters in the process, she decided to hire an agent to market her lovely wares. Now, when I first read the story I said to myself, at some point I would have thought, "Maybe I'm just not that good." But Kelly persisted and through her agent was able to land her very first book deal which reportedly included a "generous advance" (wouldn't we all just love one of those!). This success was quickly followed by her second sale. Bed Hogs was not the first book that was sold but it was her first published book (due to publishing timetables).
All I can say is "GO Kelly!" According to her web site, http://www.kellydippuchio.com/, she has 8 books out, the newest of which is How to Potty Train Your Monsters. She also jests that the "2.8 million rejection letters" she received after six years is her "emotional estimate" of the whole ordeal. NOTE: It is our duty as writer's to push the limits of truth so that you can get closer to the emotion at the heart of it all... it's a gift and our utmost pleasure to make that sacrifice for each and every one of you fine readers out there. Now where were we? Ah yes... according to Kelly "...her writing improved dramatically" during that time and "As a result, [she] began to generate some positive feedback from editors. Eventually, [she] built up a solid body of work that [her] agent was later able to sell."
So three cheers for Kelly and three cheers for that word again... you know the one!
Having been unable to place her previous work on her own and having received nearly 200 rejection letters in the process, she decided to hire an agent to market her lovely wares. Now, when I first read the story I said to myself, at some point I would have thought, "Maybe I'm just not that good." But Kelly persisted and through her agent was able to land her very first book deal which reportedly included a "generous advance" (wouldn't we all just love one of those!). This success was quickly followed by her second sale. Bed Hogs was not the first book that was sold but it was her first published book (due to publishing timetables).
All I can say is "GO Kelly!" According to her web site, http://www.kellydippuchio.com/, she has 8 books out, the newest of which is How to Potty Train Your Monsters. She also jests that the "2.8 million rejection letters" she received after six years is her "emotional estimate" of the whole ordeal. NOTE: It is our duty as writer's to push the limits of truth so that you can get closer to the emotion at the heart of it all... it's a gift and our utmost pleasure to make that sacrifice for each and every one of you fine readers out there. Now where were we? Ah yes... according to Kelly "...her writing improved dramatically" during that time and "As a result, [she] began to generate some positive feedback from editors. Eventually, [she] built up a solid body of work that [her] agent was later able to sell."
So three cheers for Kelly and three cheers for that word again... you know the one!
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