Don’t be afraid to show your work to people
You will notice that in most published books, authors thank a group of people (small or large) who read their books before they were published. This is because writing is a collaborative endeavor between writers and their audience. You cannot write in a vacuum. Not if you want your books to be read.
Pick your early readers wisely. Not everyone has the capacity to give you the kind of feedback that you need at each stage of this process. Some people can give you editorial feedback – they ask questions about why a character acts a certain way, they notice inconsistencies, they catch typos and grammatical errors that you might have missed. This kind of feedback is incredibly helpful. Sometimes this kind of input helps tighten and strengthen a manuscript because you incorporate the comments directly into the book. Other times, it is helpful because in explaining and defending a choice that you’ve made, prepares you for answering questions about that choice to your future publishers. These are the readers that you want to approach after your first draft is finished or when you are stuck at a plot point. They can also help you articulate who your audience is, because you’ll be able to see which readers are drawn to your project and which readers aren’t
Other readers will only praise your work, and can’t give any constructive criticism. You want to use these readers as well. After you’ve made your final edits, approach these people and ask them to read your manuscript. Even if they only give you positive feedback, that feedback will help sustain you and propel you forward in the face of other criticism that every writer faces.
Don’t give up. If you approach all of your friends, family, and colleagues, not all of them will have the time or the inclination to read your drafts. That’s OK. You don’t need everyone to read it, but you do need to have feedback from actual readers.
Before you approach a publisher, you will need to have some quotes from people who have read the book and liked it. You don’t want to wait to get that feedback until the moment you are ready to submit your manuscript to them. This is because it can sometimes take months for a friend, family member or colleague to take the time to read it. So, make sure you start now.
Good luck!
Ayanna
