Daniel Handler Quotes

After 20 years, a million written words, and nine rejected novels, I finally landed a book contract.

I sold my very first novel when I was 24 or 25 years old.

I wrote one book, signed with a good agent, and sat back and waited for the phone to ring. I was sure that the great news would come at any moment. Four books later, I finally got that call.

I was twenty-seven when I began to write seriously, and after two years of rejections, my first book, 'The One in the Middle is the Green Kangaroo,' was accepted for publication.

I always assumed I could never make a living out of literary fiction, and I was right. When I did try, it took four years before being published.

Rejection is part of the process, so you can't let it crush you. My first three novels never made it into publication, but my fourth, 'Sheltering Rain,' was translated into 11 languages.

I struggled for a long time to get anything published.

It took me ten years and seven books to bag an agent - it took me that long to start writing good.

Anyway, several rewrites later, Del Rey Books did publish my first novel, and it did become the first work of fiction on the New York Times trade paperback bestseller list.

Authors by the hundreds can tell you stories by the thousands of those rejection slips before they found a publisher who was willing to 'gamble' on an unknown.

I earned my writing stripes with a large man's shoebox overflowing with rejection slips... more than 100 before I got my first, 'Yes, we want this,' accompanied by a check.

My first novel was turned down by about twenty publishers over a period of two and a half years. Because my name is Irish and would not be familiar to English editors, one of them said: 'If she writes anything else, do let us know.' Slowly, very slowly, the books began to sell and be noticed.

My first novel was rejected by some of the most eminent publishers in the world. Starting again was a real wrench.

The idea is to become a best-selling author first and then the rest of my books will be slam dunks.

The usual way - through a long series of rejections, revising my manuscripts, and kept trying again and again. Finally I was fortunate enough to find a good agent.

I wrote three books before I got one published. Most writers do. Have faith, and know that with each work you are getting better.

The Dancing Girls of Lahore was offered to dozens of British publishers and was turned down by everyone. It is still on offer in the U.K., but I'm not confident there will be any takers.

I never expected to write a book about a slum in Ireland that was going to catapult me, as they say, into some kind of - onto the best seller list.

When I wrote my first book, 'Koolaids,' I felt rejected and not wanted.

That wasn't a bad price for a first book. My agent upped it as much as possible. I was 27 and had nothing behind me. I was working like a fool to earn a living and pay for my apartment.

In the end, I want to spend my 60s writing bonkbusters like Jilly Cooper.

Jerry and I hoped that it would be a popular bestseller.

I'm always surprised when large numbers of people buy my books.

A whole bunch of agents and editors looked at my stories, and they all said, in effect, 'You're a pretty good writer and you should probably get these published; when you grow up and write a novel, get in touch.'

I never set out to do this - getting to No. 1 in the 'New York Times' bestseller list wasn't even a pipedream.