"Send it to someone who can publish it. And if they won't publish it, send it to someone else who can publish it! And keep sending it! Of course, if no one will publish it, at that point you might want to think about doing something other than writing"
About this Quote
Parker’s advice lands like a pep talk that’s also a dare: believe in your work enough to be relentless, but don’t confuse persistence with destiny. The first half is pure working-writer pragmatism. Publishing isn’t a sacred tribunal; it’s a network of gatekeepers with tastes, slots, budgets, and biases. So you treat rejection less as a verdict and more as misrouting. “Send it…send it…keep sending it” is a rhythm of motion, a mantra against the paralysis of waiting to be chosen.
Then Parker twists the knife. The punchline isn’t meant to flatter aspiring authors; it’s meant to separate romance from vocation. If nobody will publish it, he’s not saying you’re worthless. He’s saying the marketplace is a feedback mechanism you ignore at your own cost. There’s a blue-collar ethic underneath: writing is an act, not an identity badge. You don’t get points for intensity of longing; you get results by revising, targeting, learning, and shipping.
Context matters: Parker made his name in commercial fiction, a world where craft, pace, and audience are not dirty words. His success depended on delivering books that editors could sell and readers would finish. The subtext is almost anti-mythic: talent is real, but so is fit, and “being a writer” isn’t a protected class. Persistence is required; so is the humility to ask, at some point, whether the work is connecting - or whether you’d rather connect in a different way.
Then Parker twists the knife. The punchline isn’t meant to flatter aspiring authors; it’s meant to separate romance from vocation. If nobody will publish it, he’s not saying you’re worthless. He’s saying the marketplace is a feedback mechanism you ignore at your own cost. There’s a blue-collar ethic underneath: writing is an act, not an identity badge. You don’t get points for intensity of longing; you get results by revising, targeting, learning, and shipping.
Context matters: Parker made his name in commercial fiction, a world where craft, pace, and audience are not dirty words. His success depended on delivering books that editors could sell and readers would finish. The subtext is almost anti-mythic: talent is real, but so is fit, and “being a writer” isn’t a protected class. Persistence is required; so is the humility to ask, at some point, whether the work is connecting - or whether you’d rather connect in a different way.
Quote Details
| Topic | Perseverance |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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