Read the acknowledgement notes of any book and there you will find a list of people that have helped the author create his or her book. Most authors thank almost a page of people for their help, because there are so many kinds of feedback available. As an author, you will want to seek feedback at every level of book creation from concept development to a shelf ready tome.
Some writers seek out trusted colleagues and friends off of whom to bounce ideas in the planning stage. As a writer, you want to develop and sequence ideas that will be worth your time. The first feedback most writers seek is sounding board advice. This is a useful form of feedback but be careful. You can get stuck here and not move on. It’s important that you take this early feedback to heart and begin developing promising projects.
Many writers carve out time to join with a critique group, which is a group of peers who have similar publishing goals and want to help each other on the journey. They gather together on a regular basis to critique each other’s work. This is a time of constructive criticism. They may focus on line editing, looking at the language and grammar of each line and helping everyone make their works as strong as possible. Alternatively, they may focus on the big picture of structure, characterization, and consistency.
Some writers struggle with groups. Others simply can’t find a group that meets their needs. Still others feel they need more expert advice than a peer group to put extra professional polish on their work. Some simply do not have the time it takes to invest in a critique group. In this case, these writers may choose to hire the service of an editorial staff such as are available through AuthorHouse. This fee-based option for content editing will bring professional polish to projects.
Readers can offer valuable feedback to authors. Readers can be friends or family members who will read a book and offer their gut reaction to the book. Think of this as product research. How does the everyday person respond to the book? To simplify things, many authors ask readers to mark the manuscript with the following letters as needed -- I(Interesting), C(Confusing), and B(Boring).
Some writers want expert eyes to make sure that the copy is free of spelling, grammar and punctuation errors, as well as ensuring that any specific terminology or jargon is appropriate for the piece. This is known as copy editing. AuthorHouse also offers this kind of service, as do such online services as Scripted.com.
Many authors, especially self-published ones, seek feedback when designing their books, reviewing and improving everything from the look of the cover and the type of print used, to the book’s trim size. Marketing feedback can come from trusted colleagues or from marketing professional at companies like iUniverse, TraffordHouse and Xlibris.
I appreciate this one the most... best valentines day gifts for her much needed in my preparation for the responses to feedback... Thanks for the heads up...especially the tip of weighing the feedback and not defending my work.
Thanks Molly! Great Info!
Thank you so much for this helpful article, Ms. Molly! I appreciate the way you share your knowledge, just as a wise mentor would.