I heard John Grisham give a radio interview here in the UK a couple of years back. He said that he'd written 9 novels before he got noticed, he didn't say if that was by an agent or publisher, but he put it down to learning his craft and enjoying it.

I always use that as a benchmark and I'm up to 10 with 2 more on the way.

What annoys me these days more is that it seems that you have to be some sort of celebrity before a publisher gives you a chance. Many of those already have a publicist, secretary, and Nanny for the kids. One recent big seller in the UK by a celebrity, I swear is a plagiarised story from a small self-published USA writer whose story I picked up for nothing on my Kindle Unlimited account. Now he has a second out and has relaxed his tv appearances.