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criticism, Lily Kaligian, Peers, readers, reviewers, writing tips
This is a guest post by Lily Kaligian. Lily is an editor at Businesscheck.co.nz and Canadabiz.net. She creates a variety of articles about careers, entrepreneurship, technology, business, education, as well as travel and personal development.
Who Should You Listen to – Reviewers, Peers or Readers?
Having your writing work read and appraised by others can be a very emotional experience. When you’ve poured your heart and soul into creating a novel, a short story, a poem or even just a blog post, you need to know that it’s not just you who sees your creation as valuable.
But writing and reading are incredibly subjective. One person’s prize winner could be another’s trashy holiday read. It can be hard working out who to trust when it comes to feedback and critique. Whose opinion should you take into account when reviewers, peers, and readers all have something to say?
Reviewers
Established reviewers read hundreds of books and written works in a year. They have a good understanding of the current literary landscape and lots of other examples to compare your work against. They’re experienced in offering critique and may seem very well-placed to appraise your work.
However, reviewers approach written works from a particular standpoint. They may be more intellectual or widely read or demanding than your standard reader. Also, they always look for an angle for any review that they write. So remember that reviewers with the least integrity may forgo a balanced appraisal in favour of a catchy tagline or in a rush to meet a deadline.
Peers
Peers can give a great perspective on your work. Another pair of eyes will spot things that you, so immersed in your own writing, will inevitably fail to see. They can give honest and writerly feedback, allowing you to improve your work as you go.
As with reviewers, there are some limitations to peer critique. Who’s to say your peers have any greater grasp of literary excellence than you do? And even if they do have something to say, they may not be able to articulate it in a way that proves useful to you.
Readers
Knowing that someone has read and enjoyed something that you’ve written can be hugely satisfying for a writer. Good reader reviews translate into more readers. But, in comparison to reviewers and your peers, readers may be satisfied with less. They may overlook clunky sentences or poorly realised characters because they just wanted something easy to read.
So…
So who should you listen to? Reviewers, your peers or the readers? It all depends on your own perspective on your work. If you see it as a great work of art then the critical response you get will be paramount. If you’re more focused on generating revenue, then the only opinion that matters is the readers’.
Usually, however, all of the feedback you get from across the board, should be considered together. An in-depth peer critique will help you see your work from another perspective and allow you to make changes before it even reaches publication. A good critical response means more people are likely to come across your written work and actually take the time to read it. And good reviews from readers make sales and bookstore features that bit more likely.
Ultimately, though, you can’t be overly swayed by one or the other. Your own faith in what you have created is of the utmost importance. If you took all opinions on board, your work wouldn’t be yours – it would be a strange hybrid designed to tick every box for every person.
Accept that no written work is going to please everyone. Learning to balance the feedback you get with your own feelings about your work is one of the hardest but most essential lessons a writer needs to learn.
Charles Yallowitz said:
Reblogged this on Legends of Windemere and commented:
Excellent post on taking advice. This is a part of being an author that tends to fly under the radar, but is as much a part of the journey as editing.
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drewdog2060drewdog2060 said:
This is a good, balanced article.
As regards reviews, I believe that the opinion of a fair minded reviewer is extremely valuable. The reviewer can be dispassionate (there are, of course exceptions, for example a close friend or family member may be concerned about hurting feelings).
An issue may arise where a poetry reviewer is strongly in favour of a particular form, for instance free verse/modern poetry (although, of course free verse was written prior to modern times). If the reviewer’s predisposition is to regard traditional (rhyming) poetry as old-fashioned, then their review of such poetry may be less favourable than where they to review “modern” poetry.
Kevin
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Good point! That same problem arises with readers of various genres. We all have our favorite genres, and it can skew our appreciation if a book lies outside of them.
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marymichaelschmidt said:
Reblogged this on When Angels Fly.
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K. D. Dowdall said:
Excellent and thank you so much. The best explanation I have read! I need to keep this in mind! 🙂
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
That’s so kind of you, thank you 🙂
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K. D. Dowdall said:
NIcholas, my pleasure and you are welcome, but those who read this and learn from your expertise are the real winners! Oh, I am one of them. Karen 🙂
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K. D. Dowdall said:
My pleasure Nicholas! Karen 🙂
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The Owl Lady said:
Reblogged this on Viv Drewa – The Owl Lady.
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K. D. Dowdall said:
Reblogged this on K. D. Dowdall and commented:
This is a must read, especially for new writers like me. This excellent post informs me that I should ask several readers, a reviewer or two, and several peers, to critique my book prior to publication. It is something I have not done in the past.
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The Story Reading Ape said:
Reblogged this on Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog.
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OIKOS™-Redaktion said:
Reblogged this on Die Erste Eslarner Zeitung – Aus und über Eslarn, sowie die bayerisch-tschechische Region!.
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My Peacock Books & Living said:
This is an interesting post although I do feel a little bit offended by the information about reviewers. While I do agree that by reading lots of books I might be a little more critical in terms of how great I expect a book to be I take offense at the suggestion that ‘they always look for an angle for any review that they write’ . I’ve never sought any angle – to be honest I’m not sure how to approach a review ‘at an angle’. For me and a large community of reviewers we simply write honest reviews. What many authors also forget is that every reviewer IS a reader, we just happen to enjoy writing down our opinion of the books we read instead of just voicing it to friends and family. The vast majority of reviewers I’ve met are all simply readers who happen to have read lots of books and have opinions as to whether they like them or not, and although I’ll admit I am critical of books that have lots of errors in them or have stories that really don’t seem to go anywhere, this is only because I expect to be taken on an exciting journey while reading a book. I take every book as it is and try to enjoy it from a readers perspective. I also have more patience for books then I suppose many average readers would when given a book to review I’ll stick with it longer even if I dislike it (and try to find the good points).
There are plenty of readers out there, ones who never review and are probably far more critical of books than I am. The average reader can be anyone and it doesn’t mean that they’ll be more forgiving in certain areas of a book. In fact many reviewers are the ones who are forgiving, we often overlook typos and other structural issues around stories that the average public would not.
Her last line, ‘So remember that reviewers with the least integrity may forgo a balanced appraisal in favour of a catchy tagline or in a rush to meet a deadline’ is one that did upset the most though as it continues the bias that many people have against reviewers today. There has been a lot of debate (and unfortunately attacks) on social media towards the reviewer and blogger community and I can’t help but see this as helping to reinforce that stigma. I don’t know what dark world she has been visiting with regard to reviewers, lol, but I’ve never personally come across a reviewer who would sway their opinion on a book based on getting to a deadline or a catchy tagline. I suppose it’s a possibility in some places but this seems no more likely then an idiot (not real reviewer)on amazon who leaves a one line review when clearly they’ve never read anything by the author and comments on other reviews just to start an online argument.
I think while there are certainly different camps in regards to who to ask about a piece of writing or published work, it’s still very much dependant on the individual. For example peer critique matters but what if the only people you seek opinion from are those who aren’t very good at writing themselves, unlikely but it could happen.
I do like her last comments though, not everyone will enjoy everything so don’t take negative opinions to heart.
Phew, sorry for the long post but felt passionate about commenting on this 😀 lol
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Thank you for the detailed comment! My understanding is that she was talking about *professional* reviewers, such as you might find on a newspaper or a magazine. In which case, the “looking for an angle” comment made perfect sense to me, as did the deadline one and the tagline one. Naturally, this sort of reviewer wouldn’t bother with leaving an Amazon review at all.
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My Peacock Books & Living said:
That makes more sense, I can see some of those critics in the newspapers finding an angle for a review. I’m still not sure they’d change their opinion on a book in order to fit a timeframe or tagline but I can see some of them going overboard when being negative about a book.
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Michelle Morrison said:
Good article. It’s good to have feedback, but when it gets right down to it, you have to do what is right for you. I usually read a few reviews before I read a book, and usually download a sample to get an idea of what it’s about before I commit to reading the book, but if it’s something I really want to read I do so. I’ve discovered I like some books people don’t seem to like, and don’t care for books some people rave about. It is a matter of taste and opinion. There is always the option of not continuing to read a book I’m not enjoying, but I prefer to discover for myself I’m not enjoying it rather than make that decision based on what others might be saying about the book.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
How true. It’s easy to forget that it’s just a matter of taste 🙂
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rijanjks said:
Fantastic post! I love the way she broke it all down and then brought it all back together. I agree that a balance of all would be preferable.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Thank you, Jan! I’m so glad you enjoyed it 🙂
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D. Wallace Peach said:
Excellent post. And an unsurprising conclusion. A balance makes sense in trying to achieve the broadest reach. 🙂
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Thank you, D! I was just reading your great post on increasing comments. It’s no wonder your posts always have so many comments! I read your posts on my email, so I don’t often show my appreciation, but you’re one of the best bloggers I know when it comes to interaction with your readers 🙂
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D. Wallace Peach said:
Thanks for the kind comment, Nicholas. I’m certainly not suggesting that anyone neglect their kids or quit their jobs to comment. Ha ha. Because there has to be balance. And remember, I learned to blog from watching you! The nice thing about a blogging “relationship” is that the visits can be more casual, I think, with an occasional catching-up. Works for me anyway. Happy Blogging, my friend. ❤
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kimwrtr said:
Reblogged this on Kim's Author Support Blog.
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Don Massenzio said:
Reblogged this on DSM Publications and commented:
Check out this great post from Nicholas Rossis blog on the topic of who you should list to: reviewers, peers or readers.
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Anna Dobritt said:
Reblogged this on Anna Dobritt — Author.
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robbiesinspiration said:
This is a very interesting and balanced article.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Thank you so much, Robbie! I’m so glad you enjoyed it 🙂
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debyfredericks said:
All feedback has its merits, but ultimately the author has to listen to himself/herself. OIt can be hard to trust our own judgment, but only we know the story we are trying to tell.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Wise words. There’s a time for listening and a time for doing.
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claire plaisted said:
Reblogged this on Claire Plaisted – Indie Author and commented:
Reviewers, Peers or Readers…Who do you listen to?
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Eric Klingenberg said:
Thanks this is a really helpful article as I’m getting close to having my book ready by others. Something that is very scary.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
I know what you mean. Someone said that publishing a book is like running naked in the middle of a busy square yelling, “look at me!” and I quite agree!
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Eric Klingenberg said:
What an awful thought! Well in my case, I’m sure you cut a very striking figure.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Lol-thanks, even though I’d rather not put the idea to the test 😀
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joylennick said:
“Heaven help them!” to the last comment…But I do agree. A good post Nicholas. It’s all so hit and miss, isn’t it! I must say, though, that sums up all of life, doesn’t it.. As mentioned, close friends and family can give false praise and choosing just the right person to read your work is difficult. I know many writers/reviewers but can only think of two, personally,who I would choose! A teaser.
.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
It’s a really hard trick to pull, finding the right person to read your work! I’m lucky in having three such persons 🙂
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