Quote · The Shawn Ryan Show
#317 Johnnie Clark - Surviving One of the Deadliest Jobs During the Vietnam War
Where this was said
The Miraculous Publication of Guns Up!
At 4:14:00 · chapter starts 3:35:00
The Guns Up! publication story is the episode's triumphant third act. After four years of wallpapering his rooftop writing office with rejection notices — including one from Pam Strickler at Random House who had actually read the manuscript — Clark was spiritually convicted by the verse 'for those who honor God, God will honor.' He and his wife Nancy popped champagne the night he finished the six-month profanity-free rewrite, declaring 'the anchor's off my back.' The next morning, Soldier of Fortune called about a story submitted four years earlier that had 'just turned up in the slush pile' [1] — Johnnie Clark "Clark typically carried 400 rounds of M60 ammunition on top of the gun itself. His team was supposed to be five men — but often it was just…" 1:12:30 . Three more magazines called with the same story and the same explanation within days. Nine publishers then competed for the book within a month. Random House acquired it, but Pam Strickler — who had rejected it a year earlier — asked Clark to restore the profanity, arguing no one would believe a Vietnam War book without it. Clark's reply: slim and none. The book has been in print 42 years, published in Lithuania, and still generates letters from soldiers whose families discovered how their fathers died.
Guns Up! was rejected by every publisher in America for over four years. Clark stripped all profanity as an act of faith. The morning after finishing the rewrite, Soldier of Fortune called about a story he'd submitted four years earlier — which had just 'turned up in the slush pile.' Then Eagle, then American Legion. Within one month, nine publishers wanted the book. Random House — the biggest in the world — bought it, then asked him to put the profanity back in. He refused. The book has been in print for 42 years.
Clark's memoir Guns Up! was rejected by every publisher from New York to California for more than four years before being accepted within one month of Clark removing all profanity.
The morning after Clark finished removing all profanity from Guns Up! as an act of faith, Soldier of Fortune magazine called about a story he had submitted four years earlier — setting off a chain of events that led to Random House.
After Clark removed the profanity and honored God by rewriting the book, nine publishers wanted it within one month — including Random House, the world's largest publisher.
Guns Up! has been continuously in print for 42 years after being rejected by every publisher in America for four years before Random House bought it.
Guns Up! was published in Lithuania and a Lithuanian soldier emailed Clark saying his entire unit had read it, calling it 'the greatest war book that God ever wrote.'
