This best-seller writer went through rejections from 16 agencies and more than 30 publishers before he got his first book published.
Although he has more than 100 millions of his books printed in USA alone, John Grisham “has never dreamed about becoming a writer”. Born into a humble family and with no particular literature appreciation, John was an admirer of Dr. Seuss and Hardy Boys in his younger days. He admits “I am not really a bookworm”.
A temporary interest in John Steinbeck’s novels was soon replaced by his true interest : baseball. Looking up to his seniors, John focused all his time and attention to this field game . He managed to enter Mississippi State University where he played in the university team level. But one day while watching a university match, he began reconsidering the prospect : “It occurred in my mind that those players I was watching, all was as young as I was, had only little chance to become professionals. I thought we were all trapped in the same situation and it would be wise to think about other options”.
John graduated from the university bearing a title in accountancy and moved on to study in a law school. In the next decade he started a legal practice in Southaven, Mississippi . His firm handled mostly uncomplicated criminal cases and private ones. Looking for more challenges, he ran for office and was elected a member of the State House of Representatives.
Being a legislative member, John continued his legal practice, and the more time he spent handling legal cases, the inspired he was by the true stories he heard. The case of a rape victim aged 12 years old especially got his attention. He found himself wondering : what would happen if the victim’s father took the law into his own hand and made a revenge to the rapist? Stimulated by this question, John began to note down his idea and the plot frame. Then after some time he started to write.
Working 60 – 80 hours a week as a representative of the people left not much time to write. But John was persistent and he woke up at 05.00 each morning so he could spare one hour to write. At such slow speed, it took him three years to finish the novel. He titled it A Time to Kill.
Having a completed manuscript and with a great relief, John came to the next difficult step: to get an agency. He sent a polite formal letter enclosing his manuscript to read. In return he got a letter of rejection. Another letter to another agency. Another rejection. Altogether there were 16 agencies rejecting his novel and himself to be their client. And when he started to contact a publisher, the string of rejections reoccurred. The novel was sent to as many as what John now recalls “thirty so-and-so” printers and “thirty so-and-so” editors turned it down.
But there was one editor who liked it – and he knew. Bill Thompson of Wynwood Press was the editor that discovered Stephen King. He gave a limited chance to A Time to Kill by printing 5000 copies and giving John an advance money of 15.000 dollars. John himself bought 1000 copies to sell on his own. He went on a book selling tour of his own style, travelling around the mid-country of the South in his old Volvo. He signed his books for would-be buyers which came up to no more than a dozen on each occasion.
Both the book and the tour didn’t make John Grisham a best seller writer. Aside selling some of his books, the tour only resulted in getting several new acquaintances who were the owners of local book stores. This less successful effort was discontinued.
But John had learned his lesson in book writing. After creating A Time to Kill he started his second novel : a thriller about a young intelligent lawyer who was framed by a reputed but corrupt firm in Memphis. Not long after The Firm arrived at his agency’s desk, John was surprised when told the manuscript was bought for 600.000 dollars, not by a publisher but by Paramount Pictures. The story was predicted to be a box-office movie, perfect for a young great star, say, Tom Cruise. Involving so much money, this deal got the attention of a number of big publishers in New York, many of whom had once ignored John’s first novel. One most prestigious New York publisher, Doubleday, accepted Paramount’s offer. Following its publication, The Firm remained for 47 weeks in the list of best sellers in
New York Times and became the best selling novel of 1991.
Now with ten best seller books and his legal career, John has never regreted the years he spent as a lawyer as he reflects :” I really doubt that I would ever succeed to write my first novel if I wasn’t a lawyer”. In fact, his success was the result of his desire to rediscover something in his profession that has begun to bore him :”I had never planned to write a book, it wasn’t something I ever thought of. I thought I would remain a lawyer for life ....... Success often depens on your making a change and trying something you have never planned.
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