you feel about the written material. But as with anything we ourselves are not experts in, we simply might be flawed in our evaluation.
If you don’t like what you’ve read in the final manuscript or are uncertain whether your writer has accomplished what you are looking for in your book, you should seek the perspectives and input of a select few others.
Things like being too close to the project, being too emotional with the topic and simply not being a writer are all substantial reasons why you cannot be the sole judge and jury on your writer’s finished work.
The best way to learn whether you’ve got a professional piece is to let others read it. But you have to take a cross-section from more than one area:
Friends and Family —Have your friends and family members read your manuscript. Tell them you would like some honest feedback. But you cannot influence them by saying, “Isn’t this bad?” or “Isn’t this dumb?” or “I think the leading character is just fantastic!”... let them decide for themselves. This will allow for a more accurate response.
Get a Professional Book Critique —An excellent way to find out what you have in your book is to get a Book Critique. As with all members of your team, you need to find a professional or else you will be taking recommendation from someone not equipped to give an adequate response about your book.
Professional Proofreader —Hiring a professional Proofreader is an essential part of the book writing process. Realize that it is impossible for the person who is writing to proofread their own work.
The mind plays tricks on us when we read something we’ve written–even writers. We see what we are thinking in our minds instead of what is on the page. So a missing word or the use of the word “their” instead of “there,” for instance, can be overlooked.
It’s always best to bring in people outside of the project to get a fresh look at the manuscript. Once they’re done, you can ask the proofreader what they thought of the book.
Professional Book Editor —Finding a legitimate editor to critique your book is also a great idea, and actually a necessary step in the process once the book has been proofread and the proofreader’s corrections made permanent.
Good professional Book Editors are also needed for taking an unbiased look at the book. They are supposed to take a fresh perspective of manuscripts and help to make them better or keep them from being degraded by too much melding.
This expert will make sure that characters have been developed enough, there are no areas where the reader can become lost or confused, and so many more things equally as important.
And if you’ve got a bomb (meaning the book is not any good), believe me, a good editor will have no back off in telling you that the book is “less than desirable and needs a lot more work,” or something to that effect.
Though editors can be tough at times, they are paid to sniff out the bad areas, and if there are too many, they will say so. That is their job, which is an extremely important one.
There is one thing to consider here:
If the critique from an editor is strongly unfavorable (like, “This is a pile of trash!” or “You need to make a major overhaul.”) you as the author must take a look to see whether you had a hand in this or not. Did you supply your writer with what she/he asked for? Did you “pull rank” too many times when your writer made recommendations?
The first consideration should always be, How can I work with my writer to make this the book I want it to be?
The “rock and a hard place” writers face when writing for someone else is the fact that the person who knows little-to-nothing about writing is funding the project. This sometimes, for reasons best known to God and authors, makes them feel suddenly endowed with writing ability and writing knowledge. And with this newfound “ability and knowledge,” they begin to sabotage their own projects by overriding
If you don’t like what you’ve read in the final manuscript or are uncertain whether your writer has accomplished what you are looking for in your book, you should seek the perspectives and input of a select few others.
Things like being too close to the project, being too emotional with the topic and simply not being a writer are all substantial reasons why you cannot be the sole judge and jury on your writer’s finished work.
The best way to learn whether you’ve got a professional piece is to let others read it. But you have to take a cross-section from more than one area:
Friends and Family —Have your friends and family members read your manuscript. Tell them you would like some honest feedback. But you cannot influence them by saying, “Isn’t this bad?” or “Isn’t this dumb?” or “I think the leading character is just fantastic!”... let them decide for themselves. This will allow for a more accurate response.
Get a Professional Book Critique —An excellent way to find out what you have in your book is to get a Book Critique. As with all members of your team, you need to find a professional or else you will be taking recommendation from someone not equipped to give an adequate response about your book.
Professional Proofreader —Hiring a professional Proofreader is an essential part of the book writing process. Realize that it is impossible for the person who is writing to proofread their own work.
The mind plays tricks on us when we read something we’ve written–even writers. We see what we are thinking in our minds instead of what is on the page. So a missing word or the use of the word “their” instead of “there,” for instance, can be overlooked.
It’s always best to bring in people outside of the project to get a fresh look at the manuscript. Once they’re done, you can ask the proofreader what they thought of the book.
Professional Book Editor —Finding a legitimate editor to critique your book is also a great idea, and actually a necessary step in the process once the book has been proofread and the proofreader’s corrections made permanent.
Good professional Book Editors are also needed for taking an unbiased look at the book. They are supposed to take a fresh perspective of manuscripts and help to make them better or keep them from being degraded by too much melding.
This expert will make sure that characters have been developed enough, there are no areas where the reader can become lost or confused, and so many more things equally as important.
And if you’ve got a bomb (meaning the book is not any good), believe me, a good editor will have no back off in telling you that the book is “less than desirable and needs a lot more work,” or something to that effect.
Though editors can be tough at times, they are paid to sniff out the bad areas, and if there are too many, they will say so. That is their job, which is an extremely important one.
There is one thing to consider here:
If the critique from an editor is strongly unfavorable (like, “This is a pile of trash!” or “You need to make a major overhaul.”) you as the author must take a look to see whether you had a hand in this or not. Did you supply your writer with what she/he asked for? Did you “pull rank” too many times when your writer made recommendations?
The first consideration should always be, How can I work with my writer to make this the book I want it to be?
The “rock and a hard place” writers face when writing for someone else is the fact that the person who knows little-to-nothing about writing is funding the project. This sometimes, for reasons best known to God and authors, makes them feel suddenly endowed with writing ability and writing knowledge. And with this newfound “ability and knowledge,” they begin to sabotage their own projects by overriding
Similar Books
