Editorial Critique
By Jerry D. Simmons | May 20th, 2010 | 2 Comments » (Click to add yours!)
Once you have finished writing, the manuscript is not quite complete. Before you make decisions on the next step, it is very important to get an editorial critique. There are a variety of ways to publish and the best course is following your heart and make every attempt at achieving your goal. Don’t let friends or fellow writers discourage you from your dream. However, you should submit your writing to an objective professional who can give you honest feedback on the strengths and weaknesses of your manuscript.
Searching for an agent with a weak manuscript will be wasted time and energy. The manuscript is not complete until you have a professional editor read for feedback and critique your writing. Once the critique is complete you can self-edit to the best of your ability before attempting that next step in the publishing process. If your choice is to publish on your own, then spending money on production and marketing with a less than stellar manuscript will result in bad word of mouth which can be disastrous for sales.
Every publisher worries about content and whether they have packaged and priced the product correctly followed by a focused marketing campaign. But all is for naught if the writing is poor, the story doesn’t flow, dialogue is shoddy and the characters are not fully developed. Publishing companies cannot sell a poorly written book anymore than they can sell great literary writing; it has to be a good story or message written in a manner that is pleasing to the consumer. Who better to help make that decision that an objective professional editor. Consider a critique; it’s the next logical step after you have finished your writing.
Tags: Book Publishing, Book Sales, Editing, writing
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Jerry thank you once again for such valuable information. Augie Hicks