Comments on: Wannabe Author Syndrome: Cheap, Craven & Conned? How $300 Can Get a Writer a Brutally Honest Manuscript Review

by: MaryAnna

Wed, 02 Jan 2008 15:24:00 +0000

Interesting thread. I can’t even recall now how I found your blog, but I like it. I also went and read Fran’s Writing Whatever and how unhappy she was with your post.

You had me as soon as she said you wrote right-wing crap - I love right-wing crap!

And I agree, everyone and their brother thinks it’s easy to be a writer, when nothing could be further from the truth. It’s hard, it’s tedious, and it’s lonely. And then when feedback from an editor is slim to nonexistent (non-fiction) you question your skills even more.

However, one point I agreed with Fran is that it seems (seems) that books used to have free critiques, but that they were friends, or family, or fellow writers that expected the same favor.

Is it just me or is life so busy now that friends are few and far between, family doesn’t keep in touch and fellow writers all have as much on their plate as you do. So part with that money - hell, I’ll do it for less and I’ve been a fiction judge for more than four years (I gave it up because of lack of time!).

I truly think the difference between real writers and want-to-be writers (and let me say here that there is nothing wrong with being a wannabe - everyone, and I mean everyone is a wannabe something at some point in their lives) is the ability to keep plugging away: The ability to accept blatant and injurious rejection and the ability to know when to pay for courses/classes and when not to.

Cheers and here’s to writing in 2008!

by: Christine Frank

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 18:52:31 +0000

I also think $300 is dirt cheap . . . but I am writing for two other reasons: permission to reprint in my organization’s newsletter or to use it as the basis of an article for them or on my blog (is that two??) Anyway, good work and thanks.

by: Billy

Mon, 05 Nov 2007 17:00:11 +0000

This post really struck a chord, Lynne. I am soooo tired of having people ask me to read their work for free (or virtually nothing) after visiting my ghostwriting/editing website.

Hey, it’s my bread and butter, but people assume I’m moonlighting or am filthy rich. It’s like asking my mortgage company if I can have a free pass next month.

I’ve had to completely restructure the way I do business, whether it is with a celebrity or an unknown. You’re right–reading these manuscripts for whatever reason takes TIME!!!!

by: Krista WIlson

Tue, 15 May 2007 12:18:01 +0000

I just wanna put in a plug here for your expert and spot-on advice with helping me craft a polished and professional query/marketing proposal. I got lucky–you used me as an example when you were just beginning this Get Published business. I consider that stroke of luck to be the turning point in my career as a writer.

I just recently pitched in person for the first time, using much of the material you procured from me during our back and forth exchanges regarding the synopsis. The agent asked to see the first 40 pages, and this was after declaring to the whole room that she wasn’t interested in hearing about any new fiction, unless it was award-winning stuff. I had just gotten the news that it made finalist in Heart of the Rockies, and I made sure that got mentioned first–something else I learned from you.

By the way, I heard from Heart of the Rockies yesterday…I won first place.

Thanks again, Lynne!

Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishing ™: Wow! I’m so thrilled for you, Krista. This is great news. And…you are very welcome!

by: staghounds

Fri, 16 Mar 2007 16:25:46 +0000

Somewhere buried in the book, put a test or two to make sure the reviewer read the whole thing!

For example,

“I was born in fortunate circumstances in the American South, and I am just old enough to remember the end of overt segregation. Raised in a respectful environment, I didn’t really begin to understand prejudice and stereotyping until I moved north. There, I found that as soon as I opened my mouth I was ignorant, bigoted, uneducated, and all the other fantasy attributes of the southerner. So I began to “get it” in a direct and personal way reviewer, code word to get paid is hallmark. And I thought I understood the anger and sense of rejection that segregation caused.”

In Exmoor, I saw that a million people had just been made second class citizens in their own country. Parliament told my hunting friends (and me) that we aren’t wanted. Our contributions, our efforts, our way of life are all rejected. Our membership in the very society is revoked unless we stop being ourselves and accept our place.

by: Lisa

Tue, 13 Mar 2007 00:30:38 +0000

There’s also a third path for the impecunious writer: ask a dozen of your friends to read Chapter 1. That’s not too much to ask - it probably only takes about 15 minutes. It’s also valuable because if your first chapter doesn’t hook people, it doesn’t matter what happens in the rest of the book.

If some of those dozen friends ASK to read the rest of the book because they’re hooked, they can give you a book critique afterwards. If no one asks to read the rest… well, there’s your critique right there.

Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishing ™: Excellent idea!

by: Alex Alexandropoulos

Thu, 08 Mar 2007 00:55:40 +0000

Interesting advice. When I finished my manuscript I had it assessed by a profesional. Yes I did pay my $300. Their advice was that the manuscript deserved to find a publisher. It was favourably compared to Douglas Adams and Jasper Fforde (yipee!). Then I hired an editor and had the manuscript professionaly edited. Several hundred dollars later I have a manuscript ready for publication. So far I’ve got two rejections and one no-reply from editors here in Australia - yes I did include a synopsis and a copy of the review in my submissions. I’ve also had friends read the first chapter. Without exception they have all asked to read the rest. So where do I go next? Perhaps a name change to make the book cover more marketing-friendly?

Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishing ™: Type “slush pile” in the search feature on the right-hand sidebar. You’ll find previous posts that should help you.

by: Therese Fowler

Tue, 06 Mar 2007 22:12:22 +0000

When you consider the cost of attending any writing workshop or conference–which so many struggling writers elect to do–$300 for a detailed professional opinion on whether or not a novel is fit for representation/publication does seem cheap. A better use of those dollars, in fact, as long as the paid reviewer is a truly qualified reader of one’s work.

Seems to me this is key: writers should try to hire someone who has reviewed a lot of the sort of fiction they’ve written. Having taken grad school fiction, novel, and non-fiction writing workshops, I am acutely aware of how important it is that the critiquer “gets” what the writer is trying to do. Aware, too, of how subjectivity can affect a critique–which is why I think pros are better choices than profs (though some of them are terrific).

Most professional reviewers can weigh in on the quality of the prose and the effectiveness of the storytelling, but unless they understand the conventions of the genre (if the work in question is genre) they aren’t the best judge of the work. So yeah, I say, writers, hire the best-qualified person available, and then hide under your desk until the feeling of terror passes and you can face the feedback that will, if heeded, get you closer to your goal.

by: Lynne

Tue, 06 Mar 2007 12:36:50 +0000

I actually think $300 is dirt cheap.

WW of P

by: Michael Allen

Tue, 06 Mar 2007 11:54:10 +0000

Provocative but right, as usual. Have mentioned it today. Michael Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishing: Michael Allen’s blog, Grumpy Old Bookman, is rated one of the top ten literary blogs, worldwide, by The Guardian. He also owns and operates Kingsfield Publications and is the author of several books, including How & Why Lisa’s Dad Got To Be Famous and On the Survival of Rats in the Slush Pile ("the truth about writing and publishing"). Michael lives in Wiltshire, UK.