Yes. Okay, to be fair, there are some people who sail through to publication pretty much the same afternoon that they decide to try. There are also some people who win the lottery, are struck by lightning, and never have bad hair days. For most of us, it’s not smooth sailing to publication, and we need a massive amount of hair gel to avoid the uncanny resemblance to Annie after a bad encounter with an electrical socket. (Maybe the latter is just me.)
The problem is that there are lots of people (and I mean LOTS) who want to be published and relatively few books that hit the shelves every year. Because of this, it’s not enough to simply write a good book. You have to be in the right place at the right time with the right thing. You have to be lucky.
Here’s the thing, though: I firmly believe you can make your own luck, or at least that you can put yourself in a position to get lucky. You can have the “right thing” by continuing to write. As soon as you finish one story, start another one. Through the act of writing, you will get better at it. You can be in the “right place” by doing research. Submit your manuscripts to agents and editors who are interested in work like yours. And you can hit the “right time” by perseverance. If you stick with it, then when the right time comes along, you’ll be there.
If you’re looking for the secret to publication, this is it: sheer, pig-headed stubbornness.
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You summarized the answer to the difficulty of getting published so well! You can’t fear or be uncomfortable with rejection, because there will be a lot of that. You have to persevere and have a great attitude. Write because you love it, not to just get published.