Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Take Constructive Criticism and Make it a Positive Thing!

We work in an industry where we need and want people to give us feedback on our book. On occasion we receive feedback that we don’t like to hear. The book could have used a good editor or this is a lot of fluff and lacks substance.
Ouch! Those comments hurt. They hurt because your book is like your baby. No one wants to hear they have an ugly baby and odds are you don’t have an ugly baby.
Instead of getting mad, let’s take a step back, and a deep breath and look at the big picture. Maybe we are in need of a good editor. Editing is never a place to cut corners when you are publishing a book. You need a professional editor. They see things in a different way. It’s not enough to have someone really good at grammar. Maybe we do need a bit more substance, things to think about for your next project.
The bottom line is we asked for this feedback so now we have to learn from it, the good, the bad, the ugly. You will have plenty that love you and your work but for those that wanted a bit more and told us so. We need to say thank you because their comments only make us better authors.

5 comments:

Dr. Bill (William L.) Smith said...

Thanks for these suggestions!

Bill ;-)

http://drbillsbookbazaar.blogspot.com/2010/06/help-settle-bet-ok.html
Author of "Back to the Homeplace"
and "13 Ways to Tell Your Ancestor Stories"

Denise said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Denise said...

You are welcome. Thanks for following my blog.

Sheila Deeth said...

Good advice. Thanks.

Sheila Deeth said...

Wise advice.