D. H. Lawrence

DeWitt Wallace is best known as the editor and publisher of

Reader's Digest magazine.  However, he began his career by

self-publishing a 128-page pamphlet in 1916 entitled Getting the Most Out of Farming.  Wallace compiled general information from federal and state agencies and added his own comments.  Going door-to-door he sold nearly 100,000 copies.  It is from this venture that Wallace garnered the special kowledge and courage to begin what became one of the most successful and enduring pieces of publishing business to date, the Reader's Digest magazine.

                       E. Lynn Harris                   e.e. cummings                  

                    Edgar Allen Poe          Elizabeth Barrett Browning            

                   Ernest Hemingway                Ezra Pound                        

                  George Bernard Shaw           Gertrude Stein            

                   Henry David Thoreau           Irma Rombauer

    

75 rejections later....John Blumental decided to self-publish a paperback novel, What's  Wrong with Dorfman?  In 2000 it was selected as one of the 50 best books of the year by January magazine.  The notoriety following this and other excellent press reviews resulted in his selling his book for a tidy sum to St. Martin's Press.

DeWitt Wallace

John Blumenthal

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