PERSEVERANCE
PAYS OFF

Topics: Failure; Perseverance; Persistence; Success

References: Romans 5:3–5; James 1:2–4; 5:11

John Grisham’s first novel, A Time to Kill, was rejected by twenty-eight agents and publishers. When an agent finally took him as a client, the book’s first press run was only 5,000 copies. Grisham himself purchased 1,000 copies and hawked his work to bookstores from the trunk of his car.

Only after his second novel, The Firm, hit the bestseller list did Grisham get his big break. Six of his books have now been made into movies, and the press run of his most recent volume, A Painted House, was 2.8 million copies. Grisham now has more than 100 million books in print in thirty-one languages.

—Rubel Shelly, “John Grisham: Rewards of Perseverance,” PreachingToday.com