Friends and Family Love Your Book

And Now You Just Want An Editor to Red-Pencil It?

(Why you might benefit by first getting a different kind of “second opinion”…)

By Mark Orrin, Senior Editor/Authors’ Mentor

If you’re like many authors I’ve helped over the years, you’ve worked hard to build your book, often while you’ve held a full-time job and a family together.  You’ve scrimped out time to write in early mornings or late night spurts and starts, and no one knows better than your family and friends the sacrifices you’ve made and how hard you’ve worked to bring your book to this point.  And no one’s given you more encouragement to keep at it till now you’re done.

So is it any wonder they’ve been the first people to read your newly finished book and tell you they think it’s great?

You may have written a terrific book, but their praise may be influenced by their admiration for your determination and persistence.  They’ll keep reading to look for at least one gem that allows them to offer praise.

Professional publishing house editors (acquisitions editors) or agents won’t read your manuscript that way. They’ll see it with different eyes, and if it doesn’t seize their interest immediately they may never get to those “best parts” you worked so hard to achieve.  And if they do read past your opening, they may see major flaws your friends and family didn’t recognize.

Case in point: A would-be author who just joined a writers’ workshop I lead announced at her first meeting that she was holding a book-signing at a store in our downtown area.  She’d finished her first novel, and with friends’ and family’s encouragement she’d gone to considerable expense to self-publish her book, inside a great-looking cover.  She’d even gotten a favorable brief review from a literary journal.  She asked me if I’d read her book, “just as a favor” (I told her since the book was already in print I couldn’t give her an extensive evaluation).

I started reading it and found parts of her opening well-written but unengaging.  It seemed she was writing incident after incident in the setting she’d chosen; but these incidents didn’t seem to be going anywhere, nor did I feel compelled to identify with any character or see any plot forming.  Because she was in my workshop I kept reading, though had I been a casual reader picking the book off a shelf somewhere, I wouldn’t have read past the first 15-20 pages.

Turns out, the novel’s plot didn’t even begin to develop till two-thirds of the way through her 300-page book. Pages 1-299 consisted of background, character introduction and scene-setting.  The skimpy plot resolved itself with few twists. It was clear that the author lacked basic storytelling skills.  I shared my thoughts with her, though not at length, and after some initial shock she admitted I was right.  But (and she seemed almost puzzled to say it), her friends and family had loved it as it was.

During your book’s development it would be wise to get a “second opinion” from a cordial but objective professional about your book’s major structural storytelling or expository issues. This is called an evaluation or critique, and it’s an affordable way to learn your strengths and weaknesses before you complete your book.

On this site you’ll find highly experienced and savvy editor/mentors who can give your work-in-progress that kind of crucial assessment, before you try to get it published or agented.

I hope for your sake you’ll give more than a passing thought to seeking out an evaluation/critique specialist.  If you do, and if you follow their astute advice, it’s a good bet even your friends and family will like the work you end up with even better than the book you first showed them.