Renowned horror and suspense author Stephen King has written over 64 books, sold more than 350 million copies, and even had several of his books turned into movies (i.e. It, Misery, The Shining, The Green Mile, Cujo, Pet Sematary, etc.). But before his writing career truly took off, Stephen definitely faced a few obstacles.
Because critics told him he didn’t know how to write from a woman’s perspective, Stephen actually threw his Carrie draft in the trash — “So I threw it away…after all, who wanted to read a book about a poor girl with menstrual problems,” Stephen wrote in his memoir. Thankfully, his wife, Tabitha (who’s also an author), saw the potential in Carrie and dug it out of the trash. She gave him tips on writing and molding female characters, and nine months later he finished his first draft. Despite being rejected by 30 publishers, he sold the paperback rights to Carrie for $400,000 to Signet Books.
Source: https://www.buzzfeed.com/morganmurrell/celebrity-success-stories-from-failure-to-stardom