J.K. Rowling Releases Rejection Letters To Inspire Budding Authors

J.K. Rowling is one of the best-selling and most well-known authors in the world. But, early Friday morning, Rowling took to Twitter remind her fans that she too is no stranger to failure.

J.K. Rowling’s Rejection Letters

In response to an aspiring author named Dianne Brubaker who tweeted about not giving up after a rejection, Rowling replied:

This sparked fans to implore the Harry Potter writer to share a rejection from a publisher. Rowling responded:

Robert Galbraith is Rowling’s pen name for her mystery novels which she tried to publish without anyone knowing her identity. She removed the signatures to prove that this was not for revenge, but rather, for inspiration.

While one of the letters was more curt, explaining that it had just become a part of another publishing group and was not accepting new submissions. The longer one, although very kind and detailed, advised Rowling to take a writing course and explained that they concluded that the book could not be published “with commercial success. When Rowling finally managed to get the first book A Cuckoo’s Calling picked up the editor, a member of Sphere Books, an imprint of Little, Brown & Company, still had no idea of Rowling’s real identity. The novel managed to achieve respectable sales before the secret of its authorship broke and it shot to the top of the bestseller’s lists.

Rowling has now published three of these Comoran Strike mystery novels which is in addition to her much-loved seven Harry Potter books, The Casual Vacancy, and the script for the upcoming play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, as well as the script for the upcoming film trilogy Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Rowling has been named the first female novelist in the world to become a billionaire.