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Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone , J. K. Rowling

JK Rowling completed Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in 1995 and sent the manuscript was sent off to several agents. Though she quickly found an agent (Christopher Little), the book was rejected by eight publishers before Bloomsbury offered Rowling a £2,500 advance for its publication.

Carrie, Stephen King

Carrie was actually King’s fourth novel but the first to be published. It was written on a portable typewriter and adapted from a short story. King threw the first pages of book in the bin, only to have his wife remove them and encourage him to finish the story. The finished novel was rejected more than thirty times before being finally accepted.

Dune, Frank Herbert

Dune was Frank Herbert’s second novel. A non-fiction article he was writing gave him the idea for the novel. Herbert spent five years researching, writing and rewriting before the story was serialised in Analog magazine (1963-1965). Herbert expanded and reworked the serialisation but the completed novel was rejected by twenty three publishers before it was published.

Dubliners, James Joyce

James Joyce is today considered one of the most important experimental fiction writers of the 20th Century. However his road to publication was not smooth. His first work was Dubliners and consisted of a series of short stories. The book was rejected by twenty two publishers before finally finding a home in 1914. The book sold just 379 copies in the first year, though Joyce himself bought 120 copies.

Watership Down, Richard Adams

Watership Down began life as a story told by the writer Richard Adams to his two daughters during a car journey, He based the story on his own experiences of the Battle of Oosterbeek in 1944. Adams wrote the story at night, taking eighteen months to complete the novel. However, he had difficulty in finding a publisher and the book was rejected twenty six times before Rex Collings took on the book but they were unable to offer any advance.

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