How do I find people to read my work? How do I get feedback?
Actual sitting-at-your-desk-typing-words writing is hard, and on top of all that self-doubt: how do you know if there’s an audience for it? Will anyone even like your creation?
It can be incredibly frustrating to spend weeks, months, even years writing something which is sent out into the world and… nothing. Zilch. Crickets. It’s the begrudgingly accepted. The comedy eye-roll side of being creative. Part and parcel of the game.
You wanted to write? Well, this is the trade-off for following your dream/ambition/life-goal, so no complaining, right?
BUT. Rejection and lack of support, lack of encouragement often feels like an endless march through unforgiving, barren territory. Except it’s all in your head.
Well, first off I would say to anyone in this situation that I sympathise with you. I really do. It’s not easy (unless you’re rich and famous and have a ghost writer to do all the hard work *cough cough*).
THE IMPORTANCE OF FEEDBACK
Finding people to read your work is incredibly hard. These days everybody has written a book (or is working on one) it seems. Everyone is busy, everyone has got much better things to be doing, most people have an endless stack of books to read by lauded writers, and if someone is going to read something, it has got to be worth their while (or, at least, be a safe bet suited to their taste).
Asking people to read your work is tricky to say the least, often provoking a sinking feeling in both stomachs. Likewise, asking someone close to you to read your work can lead to awkwardness, biased opinions… or arguments.
I’ve dipped my toes in the Goodreads community discussions before, in the hope of finding Beta Readers. Total strangers who love to read and, if you’re lucky, can offer constructive criticism. That last part is essential because, more often than not, you get NO feedback, or it’s simply not useful input.
When you do find “the right person”, they are worth their weight in gold. It’s not just about finding someone to say nice things about your work, but someone to tell you what they liked (if anything), what didn’t work so much for them (if anything), and you can usually gauge from their response if they “got it”.
They will mention the twists and turns, the details they picked up on. They will also tell you about the bits that do not sit quite right, or need further explaining. (Usually the bits which you kid yourself are acceptable!).
I had advertised for readers five times over a month for my novel Nostalgia, and NOBODY replied. I’d all but given up finding someone, when (lucky for me) I managed to find a Beta Reader who not only read my book within a day, but responded with this: (edited for spoilers!)
“You capture emotion so beautifully, and the writing is so elegant and poetic - I love Mywoods' remarks on what memory is, how it is inherently flexible and therefore vulnerable to reconstruction. The overall pacing is good and very fast, and your book has such a great hook that I couldn't put it down. Paul has a solid character build-up, and we get to know him before he takes the plunge. Nothing drags out for too long.
I love how well you blended in Paul's growing psychosis into the story. Initially, the story is very clear - you establish moments where Paul is in the real world but suffers temporary hallucinations… Not only is there a sense of Black Mirror in Nostalgia, but I'm also getting hints of Inception - with Paul being such an unreliable narrator…
The twist was clever - it never clicked until I read the revelation in Chapter 19. Well done!
In conclusion, I would say that some parts are confusing, especially with Paul jumping from location to location (as mentioned before, it becomes a little hard to parse things out towards the end of the story). If that was your intention, however, then job well done!
Thank you again for letting me read your book! It's definitely a story that is very thought-provoking.”
On top of this response, they also added comments to my book document, highlighting parts where they had questions, or parts which didn’t read so well or make much sense.
Being a writer is a lonely experience most of the time, so finding someone to bounce off your however-long-it-took-to-write book is to be cherished.
So my advice is to keep writing the stuff that you like to write and read - do not chase whatever the current popular genre is - and just keep pushing. Because the moment you stop caring - the moment you STOP - that’s when it’s all over.
Only then.
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