Crossword Genius

A little sad, Everyman's a rejected novelist (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

amis

'novelist' is the definition.
(Kingsley or Martin Amis)

'a little sad everyman's a rejected' is the wordplay.
'little' indicates taking the first letters.
'everyman's' becomes 'I'm' (where the setter is Everyman).
'a rejected' is a reversal indicator.
The first letter of 'sad' is 's'.
's'+'im'='sim'
'sim' backwards is 'mis'.
'a'+'mis'='AMIS'

(Other definitions for amis that I've seen before include "English writer" , "Kingsley -, English author (Lucky Jim)" , "Author of Lucky Jim, d.1995" , "Author Kingsley or Martin" , "Martin --, Eng. author" .)

I've seen this clue in The Everyman puzzle in The Observer.
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