Writers are generally sensitive, creative souls. If we weren’t, how could we write with such great insight and passion about our chosen topic(s)?
Criticism can hurt. Giving your proposal or manuscript to someone to read and to provide feedback on can be nothing short of terrifying. There are few times in a writer’s life where we feel more vulnerable than receiving someone’s blunt assessment on our work – our work that we have spent weeks, months and years working on and dreaming about.
When it comes to choosing who to read your work, here is what I usually tell authors to do: start with one person who loves you and one person who can remain completely impartial. Theoretically, the loved one will be proud of you and will shower you with compliments, which can soften the blow from your other reader. (Eventually, you may become completely impervious to the sting of criticism!)
When you are choosing someone else to read your proposal/manuscript/paragraph, make sure that they can actually review your work without prejudice. Your spouse or best friend may say they’ll be honest, but they know how hard you’ve been working and generally can’t be trusted to give you the brutal rundown of improvements that should be made. Maybe you can reach out to an acquaintance or colleague. Make sure that this person is knowledgeable in the area that you are writing about or for (i.e. has seen a book proposal before, works in finance and understands the lingo you are using, or has tried diet books in the past and is looking for a new one to give that final push).
Once you receive the feedback, always try to look at it as educational. If it hurts your feelings (it’s okay to admit that it does!), take a moment, sulk and lick your wounds, and then look at the advice and LEARN.
You do not have to take every suggestion that is offered to you. If you feel in your guts that a change shouldn’t be made, don’t make it. Just be aware that an agent or editor may have that same thought while reading your project as well. If multiple people tell you that your main thesis doesn’t make sense, then it probably doesn’t. If a literary agent (ahem) suggests that you would be more successful with a stronger platform, take her word for it. If you get a stronger platform and things somehow don’t work out, at least you’ll know that you did all you could do for your book in that regard. Because the person who gives you their advice on your project is hopefully someone you respect, you’ll already know that they are not just full of hot air and that they are trying to help you in some way.
I wish you the best with your book. Allow yourself to be fearless – take the compliments, complaints, and rejection in stride. As long as you keep learning, you’ll always be improving. By being the best you can be, your book will in turn be the best it can be.
Introducing the Author’s Roadmap, a boutique service offered to authors who are ready, really ready, to realize their long-held dreams of being published.
First we’ll begin with a 60-minute call in which we’ll get to know one another. You tell me about you and your book and what your big, audacious dreams are for getting it published (and even after that). You ask me whatever questions you have and together we identify which roadblocks are keeping you from getting to your last stop.
After we meet, you’ll send me your manuscript and I’ll dive deep within it, identifying which aspects will be most attractive to publishers, literary agents, and readers – and which might need a little work (and then I’ll tell you how to fix them).
Finally, I’ll give you the steps you will need to take to get your book published, and beloved by readers everywhere. Looking for a literary agent? I’ll tell you how to get there. Self-publishing? I’ll get you there, too.
It can be hard to know which way to go, and the options can feel overwhelming.
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