But I never would. Now, someone's done it for me. I first saw this on Publisher's Lunch today. Now the NYT has it. What a hoot!
Submitted to 20 publishers and agents, the typed manuscripts of the opening chapters of two books were assumed to be the work of aspiring novelists. Of 2
replies, all but one were rejections. Sent by The Sunday Times of London, the manuscripts were the opening chapters of novels that won Booker Prizes in the
1970's. One was “Holiday,” by Stanley Middleton; the other was “In a Free State,” by Sir V. S. Naipaul, winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Literature.
So don't give up. Maybe it ain't you. Maybe it's them. 🙂 It's a nice thought anyway….