Rejected queries from big name authors?

[casnow]

We all hear about how some big name author [insert favorite rejection folklore here] got rejected 37 times on 14 different books before they landed an agent/deal/etc... and then I started reading Nathan's recent post about searching for matsutake's out of the slush pile, and was thinking about how hard it must be to pick out winners from the 1000's of queries that come in every month... So, I was wondering if anyone had copies/could post some of the rejected queries from either classic stories or big name authors?

Did their queries suck even though their books were awesome? Were the queries good but just passed over?

Just curious

[askmonkey]

I haven't seen any query letters, but I saw Shannon Hale (Newbery award winning author) at an author event and she brought a laminated rejection letter reel to her signings to show everyone just how many rejection letters she got before getting published. (the answer was a lot!) Many of the letter weren't for her novels, but for short stories that were never published, but she did talk about the rejections she received for her best-selling novel Goose Girl. Here are a few of her rejection letters: http://oinks.squeetus.com/2009/09/verified-reject.html
some of the comments about her writing are a bit harsh!

[saraho]

I'm pretty sure JK Rowling got rejected 12 times by publishers. So...yeah. Actually, I also heard that Cindy Pon got rejected 100 or more times before Silver Phoenix got picked up, though she's not a big shot author (yet).

lol I just got my first rejection today and it of course didn't feel good, but it's all a part of the process. In fact obstacles are a part of life. You just gotta learn from them and keep going!


Edit: Just realized I got caught up in my own rant and forgot what the original post was about lol. I would kill to see a rejection letter for Harry Potter, but that''s no likely. I do vaguely remember seeing an ancient rejection for an art project of Andy Warhol's. I can't find it now, but I mean seriously: rejection + Andy Warhol? Hello inspiration!