: Re: How do you know if a book is ready? My mom says that my books are really good and that people will enjoy them. I know parents say things to their kids to keep their hopes and dreams alive,

@Kevin153

Vote Up Vote Down

A book is ready for the world when the composition is complete and correct (grammar, flow, the story finishes, etc.) and when you are satisfied with it. Putting it out to other readers as a pilot is part of putting it out to the world in my opinion. When your book is out in the world, you get feedback on it which both defines and determines if your book is ready. It's an iterative cycle. If the book isn't ready and can still be edited, then make the appropriate changes. If the book can no longer be edited, it's a bummer but not a loss. You can take what you learned and apply it to the next project.

The feedback from putting your work out there will range wildly in both usefulness and hurtfulness. Take the positive stuff, whether it is useful or not, and hold tight to it. Let it lift you and encourage you. Let it push you upward and outward. It is one of the sweetest things in life.

For the negative stuff, if it isn't constructive or useful (e.g. "this sucks!" or "why would anyone read this?") discard it. Forget it. Erase it from your mind. If the criticism is malicious or too generic there is literally nothing you can do to fix it. All it will do is weight you down. Don't allow that to happen. Ever.

And lastly, we have the critical but useful stuff. For better or worse, this is the biggest area for growth and is a valuable indicator of readiness. This is when people say stuff like "this character behaves weird to me" or "there was way too much description on that doorknob" or "I have no idea what's going on right now". It may be hard to not take personally, but this is really the good stuff. It's what people honestly think and feel about what you've written and is great way to become aware of problems you didn't know were there and to get a feel for how your book is being received. Through this mirror you can fix what needs fixing (and not all of it will) and put it back out there for another round.

The cycle continues until either the world wears you down or you convince the world your work is good.

(0)

Login to post a comment!