Justicereads asked Kerri Maniscalco:

Were you ever rejected by a publisher? Was Stalking Jack the Ripper ever rejected?

Kerri Maniscalco Oh yes! I started writing with the intent to publish back in 2009/2010 and signed with my agent in 2012. We went out with two other projects before I wrote SJTR, and we came very, very close to selling those works. The thing I’ve learned is that even when an editor falls in love with your project, sometimes they don’t get to snatch it up for in-house reasons. SJTR was a little different—a couple weeks after we went out on submission, my agent called over a holiday weekend to let me know an offer might be heading our way. The next day it happened! Moral of the story? Never give up. If I had stopped after any of those previous doors had slammed in my face, then we wouldn’t have kept knocking until this one opened. I like looking at rejections as stepping stones to success. If you’re getting rejected that simply means you’re trying and learning and growing. And that will always be badass.

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