Red Ink

Having your manuscript edited and critiqued is like stepping back into your seventh-grade classroom the day you review a graded essay. Only with your manuscript, red ink is a good thing. Unfortunately the emotion that comes from your work being scrutinized by another person, with the real possibly of being rejected, is unsettling to say the least. Painful as it may be, I'd prefer getting the kinks worked out early in the process rather than when the book is in print and, like a stain on your shirt, readers point out the errors.

People who have no incentive to say only nice things about my writing are the ones I need to offer feedback (ie NOT family or close friends--though I appreciate these insights). Their fresh eyes and criticisms make the project so much stronger and real.

For "The Christmas Stone" I had nearly a dozen early readers go through it. The manuscript is intentionally short , but that made this project all the more interesting. I had fewer pages to tell a compelling story.  I know people are busy and often don't have a lot of time to commit to a book--sometimes they just want to be entertained with a good story in an hour or less, particularly around the busy holiday season.

A few months ago, I went to lunch with an author who submitted his first series to a small publisher, his second series to a mid-size publisher, and his most recent series to a global publisher. Interestingly, he said the amount of red ink on each set of books correlated with the size of the publisher (no red with the small, 50% red with the medium, 100% bleed with the big house). It makes sense since the bigger publisher often makes a multi-million dollar commitment to produce and distribute the book, therefore, they need to make sure it is a polished as possible.

Feedback is a good thing and it works best when it is received with humility and gratitude.