1) Lack of commitment to goal. If a writer doesn't put enough hours in the chair writing, especially on those days when each word is hard fought, then no work will be completed and nothing will be published.

2)Failure to study craft. Writing is an art. It must be studied, practiced and become a part of who we are. Everyone I've talked to who doesn't want to bother with studying how to write better believes they're that one in a million talent who doesn't need to study. Serious writers study. Read how-to books. Disect favorite novels. Figure out what made them work. Disect bad novels. Figure out what the author failed to do well. Join writers groups (cautions on this later under the tips page "Critique Partners: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly"). No matter how talented someone is, there's always more to learn.

3)Gave up too soon. Some of the most successful writers who ever lived filled file cabinets full of rejection letters before they made their first sale. If you have the heart of a storyteller, don't let an editor's opinion stop you from pushing toward your goal. Maybe your current work really is garbage. So what? The next one will be better because you've learned from this one. It's called experience. But what if it's really good, and the editor rejected it because he or she was distracted by personal problems or lack of sleep and didn't see your work for what it was? Maybe that house has too many books on that subject already. Maybe the editor just wanted to see a clean desk for once. (It happens.) Since we can't always know if the work was rejected for something unrelated to the quality, quitting is foolish. Besides, in general, writers are lousy judges of their own work. And if you're growing, what you wrote today will probably look pretty weak a year from now. Rejoice in that. It means you've made progress. In short, never give up.

4) Failure to study the market. Know the requirements of your target house and their readers. The readers of different genres have certain expectations. Romance readers expect a monogamous relationship with a happy ending. If there's a bunch of bed hopping and/or the hero and heroine don't make a permanent commitment to each other at some point in the story, then even if a romance publisher publishes it, your target audience will probably be annoyed and refuse to buy your next book. Science fiction fans have their expectations, too. For example, they want the rules of science to be followed. If there's a deviation, it must be presented in a way that the reader can suspend belief and go along with it. In other words, know what your work is and what it isn't. Learn to balance your story telling needs against the needs of the target readership and the publishing house. Don't waste time submitting your work to houses that have no interest in the type of stories you're doing. In both cases, you'll only earn yourself more reject letters.

Top Reasons Writers Fail To Publish