Does talent count?

In a telling reminder of the things that define the times we live in -- that it's not the creativity or talent that count but sheer luck and the people you know that matter, publishers reject Booker Prize winning books and threw them into the dustbin when submitted to them as manuscripts. Among the books rejected was VS Naipual's In a Free State. Unimpressed by Naipaul’s book, a literary agent wrote: “We . . . thought it was quite original. In the end though I’m afraid we just weren’t quite enthusiastic enough to be able to offer to take things further.”

Do we lesser mortals have any chance?