I’m late in updating from the weekend because life got in the way. However, writing 500 words/day has been a success, which is good, because this is the schedule I’m going to be on for quite some time.
My schedule this week has been disrupted, but my stats as of Sunday were:
Weekend Writing Challenge (which technically would be a 1000 word goal for the weekend): 4,414
Word Count for the Week: 9,791 (thank you extra day off)
And now for my rant.
Lately I’ve seen quite a few people with little to no editing or writing experience offering their (paid) services as an editor, book doctor, or writing coach.
I’ve seen quite a few pop up in writer’s groups online, offering to give free feedback in exchange for a testimonial on their website.
I really hope that beginning writers out there are doing their research before hiring book doctors and editors; there are so many award-winning authors and editors out there who offer these services that there are few reasons to hire someone who can’t point to a long publishing history for either themself or their clients.
For example, my good friend Alex Jennings offers developmental edits starting at $50. His novel The Ballad of Perilous Graves has been winning awards since it came out last year, he’s been published in numerous anthologies including Africa Risen, which has been receiving its own awards nods and praise, and he is an experienced teacher/professor. Frankly, his feedback at $50 is a steal.
Cat Rambo is another trusted name; I’ve been taking their classes for years, and they have courses live and on-demand. I pay through Patreon to be a member of their writer’s discord. Their list of accomplishments is long, they’ve published novels, novellas, short stories, and was a guest editor for the Women Destroy Fantasy! edition of Fantasy Magazine.
I could go on about this; I have one close friend who tunes me out and starts scrolling on his phone when I start complaining about how often I see inexperienced writers selling writing services online and how many better alternatives there are. Between Patreon, discord, writing workshops, and online teaching platforms, once you know where to look it’s downright easy to find opportunities to learn from and gain feedback from luminaries of basically every literary genre that exists. In fact, there are so many classes, courses, workshops, and writing sessions offered throughout each month that I lament the fact that I don’t have a sponsor to bankroll a lifestyle in which I could spend my time learning from Nisi Shawl, Nino Cipri, and Hiromi Goto.
If you do want to hire someone to give you feedback for your work, at the very least check out what they’ve published or their clients have published to make sure that the quality of their work is what you aspire to make.