Points On Persistence For Aspiring Authors

Published by admin | Filed under Writing and Speaking

Patricia Cornwell is the perfect example to all beginning writers who aspire to become great authors to never give up. Her books curling up in your favorite chair, covered with a blanket and wearing your softest slippers – familiar and relaxing until the thunderstorm hits! To become the great author that she is, she not only had to do well with her craft, she had to maintain persistence in the face of rejection. Keep in mind that Patricia was writing about forensic medicine long before popular television series like CSI became the rage.

Birger Nielsen, who compiled a bibliographical biography discussing Patricia Cornwell books in context of Cornwell’s writing history, several facts point to the author’s success:

1. After writing a sold-out and now hard-to-find first work, a biography of evangelist Billy Graham’s wife, Ruth Bell Graham, Cornwell penned three more works—taking for material her work in a medical examiner’s office and as a volunteer policewoman. So she effectively leveraged her first success.

2. These three Patricia Cornwell books were first rejected, and would never have made it to press had it not been for the supportive advice of one of the kinder publishers, who recommended Cornwell forego the male protagonist and develop the more marginal female character, Dr. Kay Scarpetta (who would become the star of what is now called Cornwell’s Scarpetta series). The lesson here is to be open to suggestions. By taking the advice of Sara Ann Freed and revamping these three Patricia Cornwell books, the author landed a book deal with Scribners.

3. While the first two-book contract was low-yielding, the next of the great Patricia Cornwell books—BODY of EVIDENCE—brought her six-figures to start. And appropriately, the first of the oft-rejected and finally accepted Patricia Cornwell books—POSTMORTEM–earned the author not only the Edgar, Creasy, Anthony and Macavity Awards, but the French Prix du Roman d’Adventurei, as well…making it the first novel to ever win these awards in the same year, or, as Nielsen puts it, “in a single year.”

Here is more evidence on the scorecard of her persistence:

• Six Patricia Cornwell books have been taken on by Scribners.

• Six Patricia Cornwell books have made USA TODAY’s top 25 best-selling mystery books of all time.

• All of the Patricia Cornwell books after the first few (which earned from a couple of thousand to hundreds of thousands, progressively) now get the writer millions of well-deserved dollars.

Most Popular Patricia Cornwell Books (in alphabetical order):

ALL THAT REMAINS

BODY of EVIDENCE

BODY FARM, THE

CAUSE of DEATH

CRUEL and UNUSUAL

FROM POTTER’S FIELD

HORNET’S NEST

LAST PRECINCT, THE

POINT of ORIGIN

POSTMORTEM

UNNATURAL EXPOSURE

So…readers will be eternally grateful that Patricia Cornwell did not give up writing after the first rejections (which are actually relatively few, considering many writers get rejected dozens of times before they get published); and, writers can take to heart her persistence, and not give up themselves.

Susanne Garris is a book enthusiast and editor of several online book review websites. Find out more about books and authors here!

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