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    Jeffrey Archer’s ‘Not a Penny More ...’ was turned down by 16 publishers

    Synopsis

    Archer believes storytelling to be a godgiven gift, no different from being able to sing opera.

    Failure was hard to digest, but Archer kept at it.Agencies
    Failure was hard to digest, but Archer kept at it.
    Many years before he was a published novelist, Jeffrey Archer was an MP in Britain. And then came financial ruin. “I felt I was doing well in Parliament, until I made a remarkably foolish investment. I was advised that this company was going to be a huge success, that my shares would double. I stupidly borrowed money and ended up with a debt of 400,000 pounds — a lot of money 45 years ago,” Archer said recently at an online event.

    He stood down as MP in 1974 and started writing his first book, 'Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less'. “If you want to get out of debt, don’t write a book. Sixteen publishers turned it down. Even the 17th published only 3,000 copies,” he said.

    Failure was hard to digest, but Archer kept at it, driven by the attention of his creditors, and the joy he found in the process. “I believe storytelling to be a godgiven gift, no different from being able to sing opera, or play the violin. I love writing. every moment of it. I’ve written 33 books, and I’m still going flat out, because I love it,” he added.

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    Subscribe to The Economic Times Prime and read the ET ePaper online.

    ...more
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