The Rejected writer who became A Best-selling Author

Theodor Seuss Geisel was a young American with outstanding talent and education. He studied at the prestigious Dartmouth College and at Oxford, UK. Since his college days he aspired to be a writer but for a time he worked as a cartoonist. He took his first work’s manuscript to different publishers; 27 to be precise.

Titled ‘And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street’, it is a story of a boy named Marco who creates an imaginary world while he is on a street.

‘Rejected’ was the answer from the publishers Theodor had approached. Upon the 27th rejection, Theodor gave up hope and walked his way home and planned to burn the manuscripts.

Fate however did not let his hard work and persistence of go to ruin. Instead, it made him meet one of his college friends Mike McClintock who was freshly appointed as the editor of Children’s Book at Vanguard Press.

When Mike enquired about the book, Theodor said it is something no one would buy. Mike was interested to take this book, and his publisher agreed.

After the book got published, famous book reviewer for the New Yorker, Clifton Fadiman, gave it two thumbs up and all praises, as he found it to be too good. From that day, Theodor’s pen name Dr.Seuss became a most-loved children’s author.

Dr.Seuss wrote more than 40 books and sold 600 million+ copies. He won two Academy awards, two Emmy awards, a Peabody award and the prestigious Pulitzer Prize.

Two things we need to learn from Dr.Seuss’ life story – never give up after trying for just 2 or 20 times. The second is, always believe that miracles are possible for those who try more than twice!

Article by David Karunakaran