Aiming for rejection

An autumn challenge

It’s nearly been a year since we started Words and Pictures.

That’s a year of sharing interviews every Friday with someone from within the children’s publishing industry.

We’ve interviewed award winning authors, bestselling illustrators, editors, agents, bookshop owners and publicists.

Do you know what the theme that comes up most often in these interviews is?

Resilience.

If you want a career as a children’s author or illustrator, you have to be resilient. Every single creative we’ve ever spoken to has experienced rejection.

We’ve written before about why it matters so much and how to cultivate it.

Today we’re going to explain why aiming for rejection can help develop resilience too and why embracing failure should be your autumn challenge…

But no one wants to be rejected…

You’re right. No one does. Rejection sucks! But if you want to be a writer or an illustrator, it’s completely inevitable.

You will get rejected from agents, editors and designers. Bookshops won’t stock your books, reviewers will focus on other titles.

It happens every day and although it feels personal, it rarely is.

Publishing is a business and the decisions made are commercial. An editor will be looking at the other books they have on their list, a bookshop owner will consider their customer base and what sells.

They aren’t rejecting you because they don’t like you or your work - it’s just not the right fit for them at that time.

So why should I aim for rejection then?