History AndYouThoughtItWouldFail / Literature

** Even the publishing house that finally accepted ''Philosopher's Stone'' wasn't going to at first. They saw no market or promise in the book. The editor charged with reading the manuscript took the first chapter home, didn't want to read it, and gave it to his eight-year-old daughter... who read the entire chapter at breakneck speed and began ''immediately'' pestering her father non-stop for the rest of the book so she could find out more about "the little boy." The editor went back to work and told his bosses that they just might have something here...
** Even better, when ''Philosopher's Stone'' had its first printing, JK Rowling sat for a story with the book critic for a small local paper. At the end of the interview, she gave the critic a signed copy of the book as a gift. On the way back to the office, the critic tossed the book in a trash bin, thinking it was worthless. To be clear, the critic ''threw away a signed, first edition printing of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone... copies of which have sold for over eighty thousand dollars.''

* ''Literature/AnimalFarm'' was turned down by a publisher who told Creator/GeorgeOrwell in the rejection slip, "It is impossible to sell animal stories in the USA." The slip in question was from The Dial Press of New York. To quote Creator/ChristopherHitchens in response: "And this, in the land of Disney..."
* In case you need proof that most publishers thought Creator/StephenKing's ''Literature/{{Carrie}}'' would fail, King has saved all the rejection letters he got while trying to sell it. One of them said, "We are not interested in science fiction which deals with negative utopias. They do not sell."
** Even King ''himself'' had no faith in the story―at first. After writing a few pages of the opening scene, he felt that ''Carrie'' would have to be much longer than he'd envisioned (which meant no magazine would buy it), he wasn't emotionally invested in the story or characters, and he didn't know enough about teenage girls to write about them convincingly. So he crumpled up what he'd written and threw it away, only to be presented with the papers later by his wife Tabitha, who'd found them in the trash, smoothed them out and read them. She'd been intrigued by what Steve had written and wanted him to continue.
** After King made it big with ''Carrie'', and followed it up with ''Literature/SalemsLot'', then followed that up with ''Literature/TheShining'', his editor and close friend advised him that if he wasn't careful, he was going to get classed as a horror writer, and horror writers never experienced long term success...
* Nathaniel Hawthorne did not expect ''Literature/TheScarletLetter'' to be popular. It was.
* Creator/BeatrixPotter at first had absolutely ''no'' luck finding an editor who liked ''Literature/TheTaleOfPeterRabbit''. Eventually, she used her family's wealth to publish it privately, and after some moderate success on this limited distribution, an editor was convinced that it would sell and, well, it certainly did.
* As hard as it is to believe, one publisher rejected ''Literature/AnneFrankTheDiaryOfAYoungGirl'', claiming in the rejection slip, "The girl doesn't, it seems to me, have a special perception or feeling which would lift that book above 'curiosity' level." (The name of this publisher has been lost, and more than likely, he kept quiet about it.)
* Creator/AstridLindgren was rejected by one publisher, ''Bonniers''. But she finally was accepted by another publisher, ''Rabén & Sjögren'', and she would (mostly) remain faithful to them for the rest of her career. And it was a good career too, as she became one of Sweden's most-loved writers of children's literature.

* Ted Geisel - better known by his pen name, Creator/DrSeuss - tried ''twenty-seven times'', unsuccessfully, to sell his first children's book. You probably know it as ''And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street''. And he almost GaveUpTooSoon. He was so frustrated after the 27th time, he decided to go burn the manuscript when by pure chance, he ran into an old friend... who had just happened to become a publisher.
* ''Literature/AConfederacyOfDunces'' was rejected as being pointless by multiple publishers. After the author committed suicide, his mother found a smeared copy of the manuscript, and tried to get publishers interested for the next ''11 years''. Finally, she browbeat an established author into reading it, and he was so impressed, he used his influence to get it published. The novel won a Pulitzer Prize the next year.

* Alex Aster has stated that ''[[Literature/TheLightlarkSaga Lightlark]]'' was repeatedly rejected by publishers (according to Aster, sixteen publishers turned her down), who felt that it wouldn't do well because the market was already saturated with similar books. Aster stated her agent eventually dropped her as a client because she kept wanting to work on ''Lightlark'' rather than focusing on other books. Aster started promoting the book on Platform/TikTok in 2021, causing it to gain a massive following that finally got the attention of publisher Abrams Books. ''Lightlark'' became a bestseller, including reaching No.1 on ''The New York Times'' Bestseller List, and Creator/{{Universal}} bought the adaptation rights for a hefty sum before it was even published. That being said, ''Lightlark'''s initial success did have a damper put on it due to the controversy surrounding its marketing and release, which ended up [[OvershadowedByControversy overshadowing the book itself]] in some circles.
* Because people tend to remember the movie ''Film/GoneWithTheWind'', it's easy for many to forget that Margaret Mitchell's book, which inspired it, was rejected over thirty times. It was an immediate bestseller and is the ''second''-most read and bought book in the United States (the Bible is number one), and is the most successful novel in the [=US=].

* Creator/JimButcher didn't think much of his first attempt of ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' series. Many of his peers and writing teachers had tried to beat bad writing habits out of him, and so to spite them, he sat down and wrote the most cliched, formulaic story he could think of involving an OccultDetective in an UrbanFantasy setting just so show that he could. He shopped it around to publishers a bit halfheartedly, not really thinking much of it and looking towards his next project now that he'd gotten it out of his system, and was rather surprised when he found a publisher willing to take it on and commission sequels.
* Some believed that ''Literature/TheTwilightSaga'', with its PurpleProse, would never catch on. Then again, the style of books that it was a part of ("Sexy vampire dudes seducing HollywoodHomely women and getting away with it", nowadays called Vampire or Gothic Romance) had been on-and-off popular for about forty years, so it might have been the case of ''Twilight'' being published at just the right time.
* The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_de_Rabutin-Chantal,_marquise_de_Sévigné Marquise of Sévigné]] wrote "Racine would pass like the coffee", expressing her belief both would not have success.
* Creator/FrankHerbert's ''Literature/{{Dune}}'' was rejected 20 times before being published -- by Chilton, of the DIY car service manuals fame.
* ''Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'': Daniel Handler thought the series was an awful idea, and when his editor said she liked it, he thought she was drunk.
* ''Literature/ParisInTheTwentiethCentury''. One of the reasons it was initially rejected for publication was that Creator/JulesVerne's predictions about the far-off future of 1960 were considered wildly implausible. [[SteamPunk He got a few things wrong]], but the gist of the novel is either clearly correct (horseless carriages!) or correct if you're cynical ({{Corrupt Corporate Executive}}s run the world!).
* According to the intro in the book Literature/{{Freakonomics}}, the publishers of the book hated the name and wanted to change it, but the writers [[OneSteveLimit Steven and Stephen]] disagreed and insisted that the name stay. The book has since inspired a sequel, a blog, a radio show, and a consulting company. So successful was the book, that the publishing company begrudgingly let the sequel book be called "Super Freakonomics".
* ''Literature/TheBerenstainBears'' almost didn't become a series. After their first book ''the Big Honey Hunt'' was completed in 1962, publishing editor, Ted Geisel (Dr. Seuss), actually warned Stan and Jan Berenstain against doing any more books with the bears; he argued that the market was already saturated with too many bear characters like the Three Bears, Yogi Bear, Maurice Sendak's Little Bear, etc. The Berenstains initially agreed and came up with another book about a penguin titled ''Nothing Ever Happens At The South Pole''. Ted changed his mind though when he learned that Honey Hunt was selling well according to his field agents and even had the initial print run raised. He asked the Berenstains for another bear book and the rest is history. The aforementioned penguin book was published around 2012, not long after Jan Berenstain's death.
* Creator/NeilGaiman started writing ''Literature/{{Coraline}}'' in 1991, until his publisher told him it was brilliant but that horror aimed at young children simply wasn't publishable[[note]]SpookyKidsMedia like ''Literature/{{Goosebumps}}'', ''Literature/BoneChillers'', ''Literature/GhostsOfFearStreet'' and ''Literature/GraveyardSchool'' didn't take off until later in the decade[[/note]]; it wasn't until 2002 that it was published and proved popular, getting a graphic novel adaptation and an [[WesternAnimation/{{Coraline}} animated adaptation]].
-->'''Gaiman''': And before people start laughing at him, in 1991 he was absolutely right.

* Creator/NeilGaiman started writing ''Literature/{{Coraline}}'' in 1991, until his publisher told him it was brilliant but that horror aimed at young children simply wasn't publishable; it wasn't until 2002 that it was published and proved popular, getting a graphic novel adaptation and an [[WesternAnimation/{{Coraline}} animated adaptation]].
-->'''Gaiman''': And before people start laughing at him, in 1991 he was absolutely right.[[note]]SpookyKidsMedia like ''Literature/{{Goosebumps}}'', ''Literature/BoneChillers'', ''Literature/GhostsOfFearStreet'' and ''Literature/GraveyardSchool'' didn't take off until later in the decade[[/note]]

Examples of AndThoughtItWouldFail in {{Literature}}.

* Creator/NeilGaiman started writing ''Literature/{{Coraline}}'' in 1991, until his publisher told him it was brilliant but that horror aimed at young children simply wasn't publishable.
-->'''Gaiman''': And before people start laughing at him, in 1991 he was absolutely right.

* Speaking of Creator/DrSeuss, he nearly didn't become an author. His first manuscript, originally titled ''A Story No One Can Beat'', was shopped around to many publishers in 1936 and 1937. They all rejected Seuss, dismissing his manuscript because of its fantasy content, the lack of AnAesop, being written in verse and even because it might encourage children to lie to authority figures. Seuss was dejected and was planning to burn the manuscript when he ran into a friend, Mike [=McClintock=], an editor at Vanguard Press. After meeting with [=McClintock=] and his superiors, Vanguard agreed to publish the book because the title was changed. That book became ''And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street'', which launched the career of Seuss.

* "If you believe it is a work of genius, then you may lose a thousand pounds." — Stanley Unwin, permitting to publish a work that everyone in the publishing house feared would lose money. Even Stanley's son Rayner feared it would lose money — but he wanted to publish ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' anyway.
** And speaking of Creator/JRRTolkien, his foreword in ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' mention that he didn't believe his readers would be interested in his [[Literature/TheSilmarillion tales of the Elder Days]].
* Anne Frank thought [[Literature/TheDiaryOfAYoungGirl her diary]] would never interest someone. It was also [[http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/09/books/review/Oshinsky-t.html?ref=books rejected by 15 publishers]] before Doubleday accepted it.

* The first ''Literature/{{Harry Potter|and the Philosophers Stone}}'' book was turned down by three publishers who thought it was too long for children. Not only did the novels go on to become the best-selling book series of all time, but the first installment ended up being [[DoorStopper the SHORTEST one in the series.]]

* Creator/JRRTolkien tried several times throughout his life to sell one version or another of what eventually became ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'', but gave up after many rejections, finally concluding that the work was best viewed as a personal hobby, inventing a setting in which to place his [[ConLang invented languages]] but of little interest to the greater public. Finally completed by his son Christopher and published posthumously, it never achieved the same heights as ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' (which incorporated a great deal of it into its backstory, making its status as a sequel to ''Literature/TheHobbit'' something of a DolledUpInstallment), but it turned out to be of great enough interest to Tolkien fans to enjoy the sort of popularity that would make many a lesser fantasy writer envious, and enough interest remained for Christopher Tolkien to publish his father's notes in a more complete form as first ''Literature/UnfinishedTales'' and then the multi-volume ''Literature/TheHistoryOfMiddleEarth'', and expand one of its story arcs to the novel-length ''Literature/TheChildrenOfHurin''.

* Some believed that ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'', with its PurpleProse, would never catch on. Then again, the style of books that it was a part of ("Sexy vampire dudes seducing HollywoodHomely women and getting away with it", nowadays called Vampire or Gothic Romance) had been on-and-off popular for about forty years, so it might have been the case of ''Twilight'' being published at just the right time.

* Creator/JimButcher didn't think much of his first attempt of ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' series. Many of his peers and writing teachers had tried to beat bad writing habits out of him, and so to spite them, he sat down and wrote the most cliched, formulaic story he could think of involving an OccultDetective in an UrbanFantasy setting just so show that he could. He shopped it around to publishers a bit halfheartedly, not really thinking much of it and looking towards his next project now that he'd gotten it out of his system, and was rather surprised when he found a publisher willing to take it on and commission sequels.

* The original novel of ''Literature/{{MASH}}'' was rejected by over a dozen publishers, which was a record for the agency selling it. It eventually spawned a movie, numerous sequel novels and a [[Series/{{MSSH}} TV series]] that ran for eleven years (and whose final episode was the highest rated show ever broadcast at that time).

* The original novel of ''Literature/{{MASH}}'' was rejected by over a dozen publishers, which was a record for the agency selling it. It eventually spawned a movie, numerous sequel novels and a tv series that ran for eleven years (and whose final episode was the highest rated show ever broadcast at that time).

* ''Literature/EverydaySaints'' is a book written by a Christian bishop about his conversion, the monasteries he lived in and the ascetics who influenced his religious life. Nobody at all expected it to be a success among anyone but devoted churchgoers. Instead, it became wildly popular, topped the 2011 bestseller list in Russia, had to be reprinted six times within a year from the first publication, and was translated into over a dozen languages.