I come here to be straight with everyone, so let me be perfectly straight with you writers.

My new book, Everybody’s Game, has received two significant endorsements, and is about to receive several others, but has been rejected by seven agents–including the one in Beverly Hills who requested it (I think he actually wanted to take it, but is just leery of today’s market). The others, it was apparent to me, didn’t even read beyond the cover letter. Of course those agencies were simply cold-queried; with them I had no “in.” Without that, you really don’t have a prayer. Why? Because the PC has made “writers” of scores of people who never would have submitted before. This has caused agents, and publishers, to be inundated in a most insane way. Hence the rejection rate currently is about 99.5%, even if you have a track record.

But in my case, one fine dude in a major agency in NY is currently reviewing EG, and is looking at the entire career that I’ve been assembling for the past 25 years: novels, screenplay, nonfiction, magazine column, TV and radio, etc. Unlike the submissions with the other agencies, I was given an introduction to this fellow. That makes all the difference. We’ll see where it goes, likely in Jan.

Do the previous rejections deter me? Not one bit. Do I find this odd, given the success of Living the Artist’s Life? Somewhat. Does it make me angry? Nah, I know everything will be jake in the end. I remain dead-certain of my purpose; my job, in the meantime, is to keep writing hard, keep promoting my artists, and continue to live fully. Do I think the new book would get published faster if my first name was Paris, my last name Hilton, and if I went waltzing around Hollywood in a bikini? Sure, but my name ain’t Paris. Besides, I don’t look good in a bikini. She does, although I suspect she’s received poor guidance, and inadequate education, along the way. Often the case with the rich: the more enduring values get skewed, or are simply forgotten. Hell, often the case with all kinds of people.

Oh yes, I was talking about rejection. As I say in my lectures, if you believe in what you’re doing, and you feel it in your bones, never, never, NEVER let the rejections deter you. Instead, let them empower you. Amazing, what can result.