Cathy Wald continues her reign as GC’s first guest poster with a quiz culled from anecdotes described in The Resilient Writer: Tales of Rejection and Triumph from 23 Top Authors.
1. Arthur Golden’s first manuscript of Memoirs of A Geisha was rejected by an agent as “too dry.” After Golden rewrote it, he would have resubmitted it to the same agent except for the fact that she
a) refused to write a letter to the IRS on his behalf.
b) refused to look at the manuscript again.
c) told him it was a genre book.
2. When Bob Shacochis was at Iowa Writers’ Workshop, he turned several agents down because they told him to
a) write nonfiction.
b) write celebrity biographies.
c) stop trying to sell short stories.
3. M.J. Rose sold a novel on the Internet after two of her novels were rejected by 11 publishing houses because they were said to be
a) too intellectual.
b) too difficult to place in a recognizable niche.
c) too sexually explicit.
4. Janet Fitch laughed when she received a flattering letter from a publisher who had not published her YA novel because
a) the publisher knew nothing about YA books.
b) the publisher had gone out of business.
c) the publisher had turned down the same book.
5. E. Lynn Harris, who was forced to self-publish his first novel, received his first meaningful vote of confidence on behalf of the publishing industry from
a) the owner of an African-American bookstore.
b) someone in a publishing house’s publicity department.
c) a literary agent’s secretary.
6) Early in his publishing career, Pushcart Press publisher Bill Henderson was fired from which publishing house?
a) Random House
b) Doubleday
c) Farrar, Straus & Giroux
7) Which author in The Resilient Writer: Tales of Rejection and Triumph from 23 Top Authors wrote a nasty letter to a book reviewer, which she came to regret later?
a) Amy Tan
b) Kathryn Harrison
c) Elinor Lipman
Answers follow the jump.
Answers: 1) a 2) c 3) b 4) c 5) c 6) b 7) c