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Agents and editors know that authors are often harder on themselves than anyone else, and while they can’t hold back on their crit, I’ve experienced nothing but kindness along with frankness, and both are always appreciated. However, you’re also busy people, and sometimes you just need to make your point — I think most writers can accept this. The ones who can’t are in the wrong business.

However, I think your comments from this blog were taken out of context on a recent RTB discussion. A lot of romance writers are getting attacked left and right by snarky reviewers who think writers should not only take their comments in silence, but apply them to their writing as legitimate crit. I can’t agree with this. Reviews are not criticism, they are reviews. They are meant as recommendations for readers, not writers. I would personally never let a reviewer’s comments direct my writing. Ever.

It’s my view that editors and agents, these are the people writers need to listen to — they know writing, they know the market, and even with all that experience, many of the agents who have passed on my work were very careful to say “this is only one opinion, so don’t go changing your whole life over it, I could be wrong.” This to me is a professional stance, a person who is aware of their audience and such. It makes me take their comments even more seriously for that fact.

This is not the same situation as responding to a negative review. If there is a particularly nasty review that’s high on snark, I think a writer has every right to respond if they want to, and even to be angry. I don’t think we necessarily have to take that gracefully. However, I also think it can be a waste of energy, and why bother — probably better to ignore it all together.

Anyway, thanks for a great blog.

Sam
http://www.samanthahunter.com
http://www.loveisanexplodingcigar.com

As for your post, I tell authors this over and over and I know many still just don’t listen. I was (I think we all were once:)) one of those new authors who didn’t want to hear *anything* negative about my boook, thank you very much!! But it was only when I started listening that my book got any better. And it was great prep for getting an agent because we went through three rounds of revisions before getting ym book ready to shop and every single one of those revisions was crucial.
There was one issue i counterred her on and when she saw my reasoning, she agreed. (See agents are people too!) And then I had to revise further so the reader would understand.:) Ha!
The publishing industry is all about smoothing the rough edgeds. But if you refuse to hear about the rough edges, they’re never going to go away.

Maprilynne

It’s an important thing to learn – to be able to step back and look at a manuscript and, as you said, “see it as a living, evolving thing that is never going to be absolutely perfect and that will probably benefit from an informed and caring review” —

I read an interview with John Irving – Irving mentioned that he was never entirely satisfied with a manuscript, sometimes even after a book had been published.

I took from this that a book, even a very well-written book, did not come to the author intact, as if sent down from his/her muse. And that second drafts and careful criticism are necessary to bring out the most polished, finished book possible.

That said, I’ve just recently sent a few pieces of my work out into the world to be critiqued (on another blog) – and it’s a strange, uncomfortable feeling, until you see how much help it is.

At first I was offended by some of her comments, then I thought about it, hey, she’s helping me because she thinks that she can sell my book. That’s the cool part. I made the changes and I am currently checking them over, three months later. I’m a perfectionist. :*) I told her I would need that long because I had to revamp a few areas.