Zoom Out: A Note on Piecemeal Feedback

Imagine that I called you up and asked you if you like my outfit. Then I proceeded to text you pictures. One of the toe of my shoe. Another of the hem of my shirt. Another of one of my belt loops.

It would be pretty difficult to (1) figure out what I’m wearing and (2) try to make a judgement about how it looks. Therefore, it would be virtually impossible to appropriately suggest changes.

It’s harder to help when you don’t know the full extent of what you’re dealing with.

When you ask people for feedback on your entire manuscript, but you only give them a few pages / chapters to review, a similar issue can occur.

Asking someone to read some middle section of your book is like sending that picture of a shirt hem or a belt loop. It is only a piece of the collective.

Yes, people can give you some feedback, doing the best they can with the little they have to work with. But because they haven’t read the full piece, their response to what you gave them may be well outside of the context someone would have if they were buying the book and reading it from beginning to end.

When your book is published, customers likely won’t be reading pages 50 through 65 and then putting the book down forever. They will generally start at the beginning and read the entire book.

By requesting critique on one part of your draft, you risk getting feedback that won’t match the experience that your end reader will go through.

This is why I see critique groups as a poor substitute for a professional round of developmental editing or alpha reading.

Having members of an inconsistent group of people (not everyone makes it to every meeting, new members come for a couple of meetings and then drop out, etc.) read a couple of thousand words of your book at a time, with gaps of a week or more in between, probably isn’t the way your audience is going to read the book once it’s on the market.

If you are looking for assistance to see if you’re “headed in the right direction,” so to speak, here are a few options to consider that can give you more relevant feedback. ?

START AT THE BEGINNING

Even if you're centrally concerned about a scene more than 5,000 words into the manuscript, request a critique from a volunteer or pro that starts from the beginning and includes the scene you're worried about. If you want feedback on your third chapter, provide the first three chapters of the book, not just the third. If you want feedback on a scene that happens on pages 102 through 114, provide pages 1 through 114, not just the 12 pages of that scene.

This gives your volunteer / professional the same context as someone who would read the book after it's been published, even if you've only partially written the manuscript. Most of the problems I see with getting piecemeal feedback take place because huge chunks of the earlier portions of the manuscript are missing. This is another one of the vulnerabilities of trying to use a critique group as a substitute for a professional developmental edit or a round of alpha reading.

If you always start from the beginning, you can avoid this issue.

REQUEST A PAYMENT PLAN

If you’re opting for piecemeal feedback because of the cost of professional editing, consider asking the professional you want to work with if they are willing to agree to a payment plan. That way, you can get feedback on the entire manuscript, but won’t have to pay the editor’s fee all at once if the amount is too overwhelming. Don’t be afraid to negotiate and advocate for your project. Closed mouths don’t get fed!

CONNECT OUTSIDE OF CRITIQUE GROUPS

You may find that there are people in your critique groups who have the kind of insight you value based on your genre, their demographics, their expertise, etc. It’s okay to ask these people if they will read your entire manuscript instead of just the submissions you present to the group.

The worst they can do is refuse (busy parenting, going to school, working, etc.). That leaves you no worse off than you were. But, if they agree, you can get a sneak peek at what someone who purchases your book would experience if you published it today. This knowledge can be invaluable when it comes to crafting your work, especially for a specific audience (new adults, entrepreneurs, octogenarians, etc.).

GET OUTLINE FEEDBACK

If you’ve created an outline of what you’re going to write, you could get a professional review of the outline (I personally LOVE doing these, and I’m certain you can find a decent developmental editor who would be willing to help!). This allows you to get another set of eyes on the concept and avoid some of the major plot holes, character development struggles, and other “big picture” content issues that tend to pop up while writing.

If you’ve ever wondered if your idea was “worth writing,” getting your concept reviewed in outline form can be a timesaving, headache-reducing step. As a bonus, since outlines are exponentially shorter than full manuscripts, you’d end up paying a lot less for an editor to review your outline (and prevent problems) than you would for them to review your entire manuscript (and repair problems).

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Your authorship is your own. If you believe that piecemeal feedback is giving you stronger results than providing people with a full manuscript to read, so be it. But, if you’re open to trying something different, consider using the tips above to get feedback on the full reading experience for your manuscript and not just random bits and pieces.

Happy revising! ?

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TENESHA L. CURTIS is the owner of Writerwerx University (GetBookHelp.com ) where she spends her days helping new writers cross the publication finish line through self-paced education, one-on-one consultations, and services rendered by her team of dozens of editorial professionals (illustrators, copyeditors, designers, etc.).