Writers in the Storm

by Barbara Linn Probst

At some point in the process of writing a book—or, more likely, at several points—we ask others to let us know what they think of our story. Seeking (and using) peer and professional feedback is a critical part of the writing process. Developmental editors, critique partners, beta readers, workshop leaders, sensitivity readers, friends—we ask different people, for different reasons, and at different times. When they respond, there can be disappointment, painful surprise, and resentment, as well as welcome validation and useful advice.

We all like praise and encouragement, yet we know that tough love is needed too. What’s the right balance? A recent article in Lit Hub makes the point that “too much directive feedback can be dangerous if you lose confidence in your own vision.”

Insufficient feedback can be dangerous too, of course, leading to a complacency that can keep you from growing as a writer. The key word in both cases is can—sometimes it’s dangerous, and sometimes it isn’t.

We need to ask ourselves:

• How can I decide which kind of feedback is helpful, when, and from whom? Is all feedback equally valuable?
• Is there such a thing as too much feedback?
• Should I act on all the feedback I get? If I don’t, does it mean I’m closed and defensive? If I do, does it mean I lack confidence in my own vision?

As we think about these questions, it’s helpful to keep three elements in mind:

• Whom we’re asking, peers or professionals?
• Why we’re asking. Do we want a response to the story as a whole or help with a specific aspect of craft, such as pacing or character development?
• When we’re asking. Is this an early draft, a close-to-ready manuscript, or something in between?

With these elements as a framework, let’s look at the two sources of feedback we might seek and receive, as well as their uses and limitations.

Peer Feedback 

This is often, though not always, part of a reciprocal arrangement with a critique group or writing partner. Each person shares what she likes and doesn’t like the other person’s work, according to a mutual agreement about frequency, number of pages, etc. Typically, feedback is ongoing, given in chunks rather than on the book as a whole.

An advantage of this approach is that you can obtain ongoing feedback from multiple readers at once, especially when there’s a scene or element that’s troubling you—and before you’ve gone too far down a road that isn’t working.

The utility of this kind of arrangement depends on the skill, candor, and sensitivity of those with whom you’re exchanging pages. Responses can be “too kind” for fear of discouraging you or injuring the relationship or, in contrast, inappropriately critical. Your reader might also respond from her notion of how she would have written the scene.

Are you obliged to act on the feedback you receive from peers? Should you view it as valuable advice (ignored at your peril) or personal opinion (taken at your discretion)?

On the one hand, writing is an art form, so there aren’t any ironclad rules. You shouldn’t assume that you have to adopt every single suggestion your critique partners offer. Being discriminating and being defensive aren’t the same thing.

At the same time, if several peers point out a similar problem, it’s probably something you ought to address. It’s important not to assume that being a novice writer (as is often the case in critique groups) means that the person’s feedback isn’t worth much. Someone can be a sensitive and skillful reader—really good at pinpointing the gaps and weaknesses in what she reads—even if she herself isn’t (yet) a terribly skillful writer. 

At some point, however, you may decide that you need (or want) to turn to a paid professional. When should you do that? Again, there’s no ironclad rule. However, some indications are:

• If you have concerns about your work that peers simply haven’t helped with
• If the response of peers is so “consistently inconsistent” that the resultant confusion is starting to overwhelm or paralyze you
•  If external factors (such as a deadline for a requested revision) are indicating a more rapid or intense evaluation than peers can provide
• If you can’t help feeling that the response of a paid professional is more legitimate and that, without it, you won’t feel that your book has been sufficiently scrutinized.

Professional Feedback 

There are the people whose feedback we pay for, whether they’re called developmental editors, mentors, or coaches. Their services—and the fees they charge—vary greatly. Services can include a detailed narrative report, line edits on every page, a follow-up phone conversation, or simply a general assessment of the manuscript’s strengths and weaknesses; fees can be hourly or task-specific.

Since this is a business relationship, it’s important to have mutual clarity before agreeing to work together about what’s covered and when the report can be expected. There are too many stories of unhappy writers who felt “ripped off” by a developmental editor whose feedback was vague, late, or consisted of a roster of “problems” that the editor would be happy to address—at an additional cost, of course. Similarly, there are coaches who’ve been unfairly maligned by writers who didn’t get the praise they expected.

Whether professional feedback is worth the price tag is a personal decision. If you do choose to hire a professional editor, you should make sure she’s experienced in your genre and can provide recent, trustworthy references. Ideally, ask for a “test” critique of sample pages so you can assess the fit between her approach and your expectations.

You should also examine your own willingness to listen to what the editor has to say! Good developmental editors often deliver a big wallop of tough love. That’s what makes them good—and what will make your book better, once you recover from the shock and get to work.

It can be useful to return to the same developmental editor for a follow-up consultation after you’ve made the revisions he or she suggested. The repeated feedback can provide a series of data points to help you chart your progress in addressing the story’s weaknesses.

At a certain point, however, you may want to seek a fresh pair of eyes, someone whose mind is free from memories of prior versions of the manuscript and can respond to what’s actually on the page. Of course, a second professional may give advice that’s in direct opposition to what the first person told you! It doesn’t necessarily mean that one is right and the other wrong, or that it’s all arbitrary. You may have gone too far in correcting one issue, only to create another; cleaning up certain flaws may reveal subtler problems, possibly because the first editor didn’t want to overwhelm you. In my experience, each mentor has something important to offer, and multiple perspectives can provide a useful balance.

There are also paid beta reading services, typically with a much lower price tag than a developmental editor. The main difference between paid beta readers and paid coaches (in general) is that beta readers will tell you what’s not working but not necessarily how to fix it. They’re skilled readers, not writing instructors.

The beta reading service may have its own list of items, and/or allow you to specify what you’d like to focus on. Both are useful. Experienced beta readers know what to look for, yet you as author will have specific concerns. Here too, there’s a great variety in the depth and scope of feedback.

In my experience, a professional mentor is more useful at the early stages of a book’s development, while a beta reader is more useful midway or after a major revision. The professional mentor will help you to shape the story; the beta reader will let you know if you’ve succeeded and where more work may be needed.

What should you do with the feedback, once you’ve gotten it?  

Returning to the questions at the beginning of this essay—how much is enough, and how can you make sense of the feedback you receive?

Here are some principles that I’ve found helpful:

• Pace yourself.  Don’t ask too for too much at once. Focus on one major aspect at a time if you can. Digest what you’ve gotten before asking for more.
• Try it on. Think what if and play with changing your story the way the reviewer suggested. You may decide that you don’t want to do that, but try it first!
• Organize your feedback. Summarize the feedback and put it into categories, like pacing or character relationships. It can also be helpful to date the feedback so you can see how you’ve addressed this element over various drafts.
• Prioritize. Pay more attention to the identification of problems than to suggested solutions. Reviewers may come up with different solutions, but if they all point to the same problem, like stakes or motivation, then it probably is a problem. You might end up with your own solution—rather than a “camel” cobbled together by trying to do what every single person advises.
• Consider the source. Are there any potential biases at work, either in the reader’s perception—or in yours? Beware of thoughts like: “She doesn’t appreciate my kind of writing” and “I paid so much for this, so she must be right.”
• Come back later. Sometimes you’ll see things in a different light after you’ve been away for a while.
• Keep all of it. You may be tempted to throw out some of the comments that you’re certain are wrong—but don’t.  Set them aside and look at them again later.

I like to think of it this way: we learn something from every bit of feedback we receive, although sometimes the lesson isn’t clear right away. It might crystalize in your next book, not this one!

What about you? Who critiques your work or offers feedback? What feedback has proven most useful to you, and why? Share your experiences with us down in the comments!

About Barbara

BARBARA LINN PROBST is a writer of both fiction and non-fiction, living on an historic dirt road in New York’s Hudson Valley. Her debut novel QUEEN OF THE OWLS (April 2020) is the powerful story of a woman’s search for wholeness, framed around the art and life of iconic American painter Georgia O’Keeffe. QUEEN OF THE OWLS was selected as one of the twenty most anticipated books of the year by Working Mother, a debut novel “too good to ignore” by Bustle, was featured in places like Pop Sugar, Entertainment Weekly, Parade Magazine, and Ms. Magazine. It also won the bronze medal for popular fiction from the Independent Publishers Association, placed first runner-up in general fiction for the Eric Hoffer Award, and was short-listed for the $2500 Grand Prize. Barbara’s second book, THE SOUND BETWEEN THE NOTES, launches in April 2021.

Barbara has a PhD in clinical social work and blogs for several award-winning sites for writers. To learn more about Barbara and her work, please see http://www.barbaralinnprobst.com/

by Justine Bylo

I always joke that Christmas is never the most “wonderful time of the year” for me. When you work for IngramSpark, like I do, the holidays are synonymous with retail Christmas angst. Amazon has made us all very guilty of being used to a two-day turnaround time. Let’s admit it, we’re spoiled! But if COVID has taught us anything, it’s that even the giant that is Amazon sometimes falters. This holiday season, let’s keep this in mind. This year is unlike any other. As I write this post, we are exactly six weeks till Christmas day, and I am bracing. All of you should be bracing too… and here is why. Let’s make some plans.

Ordering Books

No matter what platform you use to order your books (IngramSpark, KDP, etc.), turnaround times spike right before Thanksgiving, which quickly snuck up on us this year. Time has ceased to exist in a traditional way during this pandemic. It was Halloween, then it was the election, then we all got caught up in the post-election haze, and then BOOM! All of a sudden, Thanksgiving is right around the corner.

You are not alone here. If you need books for Christmas gifts, giveaways, or customer direct orders, order them NOW. Honestly, stop reading this post and go order your books. COVID raised turnaround times for all printers. Things started to quiet down around the end of August, but this lull is coming to an end. Printing facilities not only have to contend with keeping their employees safe during a COVID spike but the holiday rush as well.

Please keep this in mind and plan accordingly. Also, I beg you to please keep this in mind when speaking to any customer service. Everyone is inundated and trying their best during these challenging times. Safety is always the number one priority.

Retail Orders

The holidays are the season of buying. There are a few ways you can have a smarter strategy this year. The first way is by broadening your distribution. Many retailers may experience a lack of staff due to the pandemic while also experiencing high demand. Also, many people are feeling the need to support their local merchants during this time.

I suggest a tactic called being “retailer agnostic.” If you go wide with your distribution -- Amazon, B&N, bookshop.org, indie bookstores, libraries -- you can tell your readers that your book is “available everywhere books are sold.”  If one store is out of stock or cannot fulfill the order, another store surely can. This is the beauty of not putting your eggs all in one basket. This also allows you to make a valuable connection with your local indie. If your store is open, go chat with the salespeople there, and let them know that your marketing is directing people to their store. They will appreciate the heads up and the business. If you go this route, please keep in mind that indies want “bookstore friendly terms.” You can find more info about what that means here!

The second way is by going customer direct. This has been an incredibly effective strategy during the pandemic. It truly allows you to become more engaged with your readers.

There are several ways you can do this. The most common way is setting up a storefront on your author website and then fulfilling it through Shopify or PayPal. This is where my first bit of advice comes into play. If you need books for these orders, order now!

Another way to do this is through Aerio. Aerio is Ingram’s customer direct selling tool. If your book is set up in IngramSpark and available for distribution, then you can create an Aerio account, create a virtual bookstore, and sell directly to your readers. Aerio is fulfilled by Ingram Book Company, so all orders are printed and shipped through Ingram. This means that you won’t have to schlep to the post office during this holiday season! You can find this service at aer.io.

What Makes This Year Different

Many books being launched this season are hangovers from the Spring. With COVID-19 being new, no one was sure what would happen. Many books that were due to publish in Spring 2020 were delayed because many of the retail outlets were closed, and book signings were canceled. These releases have been rescheduled for Fall 2020 or Winter 2020/2021. They will also be released in non-traditional ways since many bookstores are still closed, and the ways people buy books have changed. There are many more online sales and, as I mentioned, direct sales.

Be prepared to compete in a crowded market. Not only are more traditionally published books coming out in a short time, but there is a deluge of independently published titles as well. With so many people at home, they have finally found the time to finish their novel. So, there has been an influx of books produced this year compared to previous years. People are also reading a lot more and ordering more books because let’s face it, we’re bored.

Have a solid plan to market your book, so you rise above the noise. This means creating a strategic marketing plan well before your publication date. Get creative! Remember that your readers are stuck at home and living on the internet. Do some research about online marketing. Make sure you are finding your readers and connecting with them in a meaningful way.

This is also the optimum time to connect with your readers and build your email lists. Create blogs and send out newsletters. If you are planning a spring 2021 release, consider that many books may still be pushed from the 2020 editorial calendars, and so the regular season may be full of new books and authors.

I know this all sounds daunting but don’t panic! This is good news for authors. Be prepared to ride the wave!

Support Your Local Bookstores

Brick and mortar indie bookstores have taken a beating this year. Many have had to close due to COVID restrictions. Rent and utilities are still due, so they have been forced to change their business models to survive. Many have implemented curbside pick-up and delivery programs, much to the delight of their communities. Also, many have had to make the difficult leap to the online sales arena.

Unless they already had an established online store, many indies have had to quickly build their online infrastructure- which means an online e-commerce site and figuring out a way to fulfill it. Even those that were already in that space have great difficulty competing with other large internet retailers. Consider helping your local Indie stores by purchasing your Christmas gifts there, sending your readers to their local indies, and selling through bookshop.org.

Bookshop.org is the new, cool kid on the block of internet retailers that launched in February. It has backing from the American Booksellers Association, and a portion of all sales goes to local indie bookstores. So far this year, they have already raised nearly eight million dollars. The other cool thing about bookshop.org is that you can become an affiliate and create your own bookstore within their site. You can direct your readers here to shop for your books as well as books from other authors. Not only do you make a ten percent cut as the bookseller, but the indies still get their piece of the pie as well. You’re probably wondering, “how do I get my book on this amazing site?” If your book is set up with IngramSpark, it will automatically be fed to bookshop.org, and the listing will appear within ten business days.

Final Thoughts

If you take anything away from this post, I hope it is these simple things:

1.     Order books now!

2.     Go wide!

3.     Customer direct sales are the future!

4.  Make a plan to stand out.

5.  Support your local indie!

6.     Please be nice to the customer service people.

I know these may seem like obvious tips, but this year is unlike any other. This holiday season, the more time you give yourself and the more planning you do for potential bumps in the road, the more successful you will be. Happy holidays!

What are your plans for your next book launch? What is the state of your local bookstores?

About Justine

Justine Bylo manages the author acquisition program at IngramSpark. She works with authors and independent publishers to expand their flourishing literary platforms through smart sales and marketing strategies.

Justine has worked with Ingram Content Group for 7 years. During her tenure, she’s launched several author focused programs, been the host of the IngramSpark podcast, Go Publish Yourself, helped get print books into Rwanda for a literacy initiative, and even taught many co-workers to love romance novels.

Justine started her career in the unlikely place of television. She was a writing intern for The Colbert Report, where her snappy one-liners landed her jokes on the air. She later worked in reality TV development and production at Oxygen and Bravo before making the leap to publishing. Justine was a graduate of NYU Tisch in Dramatic Writing. She lives in New Jersey with her husband and their Corvette and continues to work on her own novels during her free time. 

by Ellen Buikema

Have you ever had a story playing in your mind and wanted to retell it for the amusement of your friends? If you begin without knowing what statements to use and the specific order you’ll find yourself with a choppy, not-so-interesting mess. Taking time to organize our thoughts makes the difference between a great tale and a flop.

The act of writing makes the brain take notice.

Keep your favorite writing implement or other recording device nearby to capture those nuggets.

A teacher friend uses the Smart Recorder app on her smartphone to audibly record her thoughts. She transcribes her ideas later in the day and uses them in her lesson plans. The same can be done for characters, scene notes, or anything else related to your stories.

Here are a few other apps to check out to help organize your thoughts.

• Google Docs
• TiddlyWiki is a non-linear note-taking tool.

When too many ideas compete for dominance in your mind it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. This may seem counterintuitive, but clearing your mind is a valuable method for organizing thought.

Methods to clear the mind

• Meditate.  Meditation uses minimal time and frees your mind to focus on what’s really important. Start by finding a quiet location where you can relax for five minutes. With practice you can work up to twenty. Minute length isn’t as important as taking some time out of the day to relax.
• Sit with your eyes closed and take calming breaths. Use a word or mantra to repeat in your mind to brush away the thoughts. The mantra can be any word that has no real significance to you. Some people use the word one. If you find that you’ve drifted from your mantra, gently go back to it. You’ll notice days when meditation doesn’t seem as calming. Those are the days you need it the most.
• If you are not getting enough sleep, meditation will help fill some of that deficit.
• 4 Square Breathing. This simple breathing technique can be done anywhere, anytime, and is a great stress reliever. Here is the technique:
  • Inhale four counts (four seconds)
  • Hold four counts
  • Exhale four counts
  • Hold four counts
  • Repeat 5 to 6 times
• If desired you can increase the counts, further slowing your breathing.
• This technique increases focus and concentration while organizing the pattern of breathing. It is a gentle workout for the nervous system, making us more responsive and less reactive.
• Exercise. Exercising reduces the stress hormone cortisol and increases endorphins which elevate mood and make focus easier to accomplish. That focus is necessary for organized thought.
• Declutter. A cluttered workspace can induce stress. Take some time to clear your desk or work table and make sure to treat yourself afterward—chocolate, wine, a movie, pizza and beer. Whatever works!

Use methods that best suit YOU

How you decide to organize is tied in part to your favored methods to learn. No one way is best. Intelligence is displayed in different forms. Most people show their intelligence in multiple areas.

Here are some organizational suggestions based on Howard Gardener’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences.

• Visual-Spatial – Use mind maps, charts, colors, and pictures for organizing notes.
• Linguistic-Verbal – Keep a journal. This is particularly helpful if you write before sleeping. Your brain will continue to work out issues during sleep.
• Logical-Mathematical – Use outlines, numeric charts and graphs for notes.
• Bodily-Kinesthetic – Act out or imagine concepts. Anything physical cements ideas.
• Musical – Listen to music while you write. Mood music for scenes will make a positive difference.
• Interpersonal – Brainstorm ideas with other people. Sharing information will clarify thoughts.
• Intrapersonal – Work in a quiet venue. Too many people drain your energy. As with Linguistic-Verbal intelligence, journaling helps.
• Naturalistic – If possible work in an area with a view or an outdoorsy poster. Taking time to enjoy plants or playing with a pet will relax your mind and organizing will follow.
• Existential – Meditation will help with the deep dives needed to answer intense questions, freeing you to work on mundane thoughts.

Getting your thoughts down

• On paper, whiteboard, or electronic device, make a list of everything accumulating in your head. Use the technique from the list above that works best for you.
• Step back and treat yourself to something fun that has nothing to do with your project. A short time away as a gift to yourself for a job well started will allow you to relax.
• When calm, ideas flow with less resistance. Pushing too hard enhances frustration, shutting off the creative juices.

How do you organize your thoughts? What do you use to clear your mind of cluttered thoughts? Share your favorite techniques with us down in the comments section!

* * * * * *

About Ellen

Author, speaker, and former teacher, Ellen L. Buikema has written non-fiction for parents and a series of chapter books for children with stories encouraging the development of empathy—sprinkling humor wherever possible. Her Work In Progress, The Hobo Code, is YA historical fiction.

Find her at http://ellenbuikema.com or on Amazon.

Top Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay