The post intended for this space was thoughtful, well-written though a little long-winded, and it would have made beautiful reading for thousands of BwB readers, however it simply was not the tenor of post we wish to distribute here. We wish the writer all the best success with other blogs for that post. Instead for this space, the self-congratulatory editors of BwB offer our readers a link to this article in the Independent of Ireland on famous statements made when rejecting manuscripts which later made bestselling books, e.g. J.K. Rowling’s first Harry Potter novel, which was rejected by nine publishers before one man’s eight-year-old daughter said it was so much better than anything else.

A commenter on Twitter pointed to this article, saying it was the reason agents send out bland, boilerplate rejection letters. They fear saying “guitar groups are on the way out” to a band like The Beatles.

On the subject of rejections, Molly-Ann Leikin has a short list of them here.

William Faulkner’s novel, Sanctuary, was tossed back in his face with the editor’s horrified remark, “Good God, I can’t publish this. We’d both be in jail.” It was eventually published, of course, and nobody ended up behind bars.