Breaking into the world of writing is not a task for the faint of heart. If you like getting brutally rejected after pouring your heart and soul into a project, over and over again – just try writing. Joanne Rowling (known to the world by her pen name, J.K. Rowling) felt that she was a complete failure when she started writing the first Harry Potter book. She was a divorced woman, jobless, with a dependent child, suffering from crippling depression. But she managed to finally finish her manuscript and sent it to twelve publishing houses – who all rejected it straight away. She persevered and managed to get a publisher to do a small print run, although they encouraged her to get a day job as “there is no money in children’s books.” Today the Harry Potter brand is worth an estimated $15 billion.