被拒莫灰心! JK羅琳曬退稿信
The Harry Potter author JK Rowling has shared some withering rebuffs publishers sent to her alter ego Robert Galbraith, in an effort to comfort aspiring authors.
近日，《哈利波特》系列圖書的作者JK·羅琳爲了激勵其他作家，自曝數位出版商對其署名爲Robert Galbraith的作品的冷酷無情的退稿信。Rowling posted the rejection letters on Twitter after a request from a fan. They related to The Cuckoo's Calling, her first novel as Galbraith. But Rowling also saw Harry Potter turned down several times before the boy wizard became one of the greatest phenomena in children's literature, with sales of more than 400m copies worldwide.
應某位粉絲的要求，羅琳在自己的推特上貼出了這幾封退稿信。這些信件的內容全部與《布穀鳥的呼喚》這本小說有關。《布穀鳥的呼喚》是羅琳以Robert Galbraith的筆名發表的首部作品。而羅琳的《哈利波特》系列在全世界已賣出了4億餘本，成爲了兒童文學史上的一座高峯，在此之前也曾數次遭到出版商的拒絕。Asked how she kept motivated, she tweeted: “I had nothing to lose and sometimes that makes you brave enough to try.”
當問及如何保持積極心態的時候，羅琳回覆道：“我沒什麼好失去的，有時這樣的情況令人有足夠的勇氣去嘗試。”
When she pitched under the name Galbraith without revealing her true identity, she faced many more snubs. Since then, Galbraith has published three successful novels but the first was rejected by several publishers, and Rowling was even advised to take a writing course.
當羅琳在隱瞞真名並使用筆名投稿後，收到了許多的退稿信。此後，羅琳以該筆名發表了三本成功的小說，但第一本小說還是遭到了幾位出版商的拒絕。有的出版商甚至建議羅琳去上一堂寫作課。Rowling erased the signatures when she posted the letters online, saying her motive was “inspiration not revenge”. She did not reveal the full text of the most brutal brush-off, which came by email from one of the publishers who had also rejected Harry Potter.
羅琳隱去了信上的簽名，表示自己的動機只是鼓舞他人而不是進行報復。一位此前拒絕了《哈利波特》系列的出版商的退稿信言辭最爲刻薄，羅琳並沒有公開這封信的全部內容。Rowling said she could not share the Potter rejections because they “are now in a box in my attic” before offering the Galbraith letters. The kindest and most detailed rejection came from Constable And Robinson, who – despite the advice about a writing course – included helpful tips on how to pitch to a publisher (“as on book jackets – don't give away the ending!”). The publisher added: “I regret that we have reluctantly come to the conclusion that we could not publish it with commercial success.”
在貼出這些信件前，羅琳表示，自己無法和粉絲分享《哈利波特》的退稿信，因爲這些信現在都放在閣樓的箱子裏了。出版商Constable And Robinson的退稿信貼心又細緻--除了上寫作課的建議--還包括許多如何投稿的建議。該出版商接着寫道：“出版本書難以獲得商業收益。得出此結論亦非我方所願，對此我方深表遺憾。”The short note from publishers Creme de la Crime said the firm had become part of another publishing group and was not accepting new submissions.
而另一家出版商Creme de la Crime在一份簡短的回覆中表示，因公司被另一家出版社收購，所以將不再接受新的投稿。When The Cuckoo's Calling eventually found a publisher in 2013, it was achieving respectable sales before the secret of its authorship broke, and it then shot to the top of the bestseller lists.
2013年《布穀鳥的呼喚》出版後，銷量頗佳，作者的真實身份遭曝光後更是佔據了暢銷書排行榜的榜首位置。
