Rita (my wife) works in a grocery store. Last week, her department manager thought it’d be a good idea to implement a suggestion box. It wasn’t.
Suggestion boxes, by nature, are supposed to be suggestive. Helpful, even if critical. They’re also supposed to be anonymous. In this case, one suggestion wasn’t respected as anonymous.
The suggestion was something about how to improve scheduling, and the department manager took it as a personal slight. They recognized the suggester’s handwriting and called that worker out. Not just in front of the staff, but also in front of customers.
Rita, being a Cancer, intervened and settled things down. And down came the suggestion box, but not before the damage was done. The berated worker laid a complaint to HR, and the disciplinary genie is out of the bottle. Or better put, the laundry is out of the hamper.
What’s this got to do with us here at the Kill Zone? Well, as writers, we have a suggestion box open all the time. It can be in the comment section following a post. It can be feedback from beta readers. Or, it can be online reviews on our book publishing sites.
I moderate my comments on my personal blog site. I nix the odd Negative Nellie, but if someone has a valid point that disagrees with my content, I’ll let it stand. Often, I’ll learn something.
I no longer work with beta readers. Very few ever came through and, if they did, the feedback wasn’t particularly helpful. It just wasn’t worth the time and the effort.
I have a friend whose wife is an A-List romance writer. She gave me advice early in my game. “Don’t read your reviews,” she said. “The 1-Stars are trolls. The 5-Stars are suck-ups. And the ones in-between never have useful suggestions.”
Suggestions.
Kill Zoners — How do you deal with suggestions? Good, bad, or indifferent? Feel free to suggest.
I’ve belonged to weekly or monthly writers’ workshops almost continuously for the past 50 years. They have been a source of many great suggestions, and beta readers, as well as providing accountability, of a sort. One should never let pass an opportunity to read WIP at any meeting. I wrote The Perils of Tenirax:Mad Poet of Zaragoza and A True Map of the City a week at a time, 1000+/- words at a time, specifically to have something to read to the group on any given week.
An established workshop critique protocol is mandatory. Critics should cite some positive points before lowering the boom. Avoid expressions like nonsensical drivel, total dreck, and outrageous crapola. Writers should not argue. If the suggestion is off-the-mark, they should just say, “I’ll make a note of that,” and scribble something on their note pad, even it it’s only, “Remember milk and eggs on way home.”
Choosing beta readers is a topic by itself. My experience has been mixed. The best have been very good. The worst one reported back, “It was interesting.” Period. That would have been bad enough, but she only returned half the manuscript. (I should mention that I’d given her several sample chapters beforehand.)
Instead of beta reads, you can purchase reads/reviews from professionals. Midwest Book Review will assess most in-print books free. Some books require a $50 reader fee. Kirkus is the expensive elephant in the room. You should bear in mind that Kirkus went dark for several years, possibly a sign they were not paying their readers well. I’ve used SPR several times with good results, at a lower cost.
One of the best things about workshops is the friendships that result. I still see Dave Kenney, a WWII Vet and member of my first workshop, every Sunday afternoon at 3. Another friend serves up “Tea on the Nile,” on occasional warm afternoons–fruit, pastries, and oolong or darjeeling on the shady patio, amongst the lilies, fennel, and papyrus.
Good morning, JGA. Interesting comment and I do mean interesting. I hadn’t thought about critique groups and workshops but certainly they would be suggestion boxes. And I love the line, “I’ll make a note of that.” Man, you could use that in almost every life situation.
I look at my reader “reviews”, but it’s not a time-consuming task, as I don’t have a bazillion of them flooding the sites. I don’t worry (too much) about them. Nobody likes to hear they have an ugly baby, but everyone brings their own biases to the table. Once in a while, a reader/reviewer catches something I’ve missed, and I can correct blatant errors.
Hi Terry. Every once in a while I scan my star ratings, but I don’t put much weight on them – especially Goodreads. I’ve found the reward hasn’t come from comments or sales figures but from opportunities my writing had opened up. “Ugly baby” I had a review on my first release that was a 1 Star with something like, “Worst book ever. Only book I ever stopped reading.” It was baptism by troll.
Tough topic. I value candor. But if you ask for feedback from some people, even if you tell them that, they may hold back. And there are some who are fixed on some particular aspect, and their feedback is from the standpoint of whatever they are fixated on, not necessarily answering your specific questions to get feedback. And there are some, as in the example you cited, who give ridiculously short and unhelpful responses.
I have only used beta readers just once & very recently, so too soon to know if it’ll be my long term strategy, but I did find it more useful then past years in crit groups where they were doing a few pages at a time. Used 3 betas this time, but if I can, I’d like to expand to 5 for the next story & get more variety in feedback (at least theoretically).
Because the one piece of writing related advice I have found to be very helpful is that while the feedback you get may vary, it’s good to hone in on patterns you notice in the feedback–i.e. if several are saying your opening was too slow, or section X was confusing, etc.
As to the employee in the store–wonder if things would’ve gone the same way if they’d typed up their feedback and slipped it in? And sounds like maybe in the future they need to work to make their feedback more generic (but don’t do this if giving feedback to the writer. The more specific the better!). 😎
Thoughtful comment on a tough topic, Brenda. You make a good point about recognizing and paying attention to feedback patterns. Like, if most came back and said, “Stopped reading at page 53”, you might want to have a good look at what was on page 53. And another good point about typing out suggestions 🙂 Enjoy your day!
For many years, critique groups gave me feedback. Some not so great but most was helpful or at least made me think. As J and Brenda noted, the piecemeal nature is limiting.
For that reason, now I mostly swap beta reads with serious writers I know well who understand what’s needed to make a solid story.
But I also use authenticity readers who are experts in specific topics, e.g. deepfake technology, arson and accident investigation, WWII Japanese-American internment camps, etc. Our deal is I buy them lunch, acknowledge their contribution in the book, and give then a signed copy when it’s published.
Speaking of which, Garry, I still owe you lunch for your help. One of these days, we’ll meet in person so I can pay the debt!
Remember, Debbie, I drink wine with lunch. Really good wine.