I was away at a retreat for a few days, so my posting schedule has been disrupted, but it should be back on track soon.
Every once in a while, someone will pop up in a writing community I’m in marketing their book coaching, doctoring, or editing business. They’ll give their card to every single person they see, sometimes offering discounts or a free trial. “That short story sounds really interesting, send it my way and I’ll be happy to take a look!”
It’s tempting to give them a chance and flattering to have found someone interested in my work, who wants to help make it better. Often, where the conversation starts to fall apart is where their interests and knowledge intersect with my writing.
I’ll say, “Yes, I just finished a novella about queer vampires suffering under capitalism. A cross between Nino Cipri’s Defekt and the hit TV show Severance.”
Their response: “Oh, I haven’t read that, I’ve been meaning to check out Severance. What I really love is golden age sci fi. Have you read The Space Merchants?”
Or, “Oh, I don’t read vampires, so overdone, but still, you should send it to me, I have an MFA and am just getting started, so if you’re willing to give me a referral, I’ll do a first pass for free!”
If you’re paying someone to give you feedback or developmental edits, you want them to be well-read in the genre you’re writing in. You want them to have read, or at least have a familiarity with, books that have come out in the past year. You want their eyes to light up when you pitch them your story.
You want to hear, “Oh my goodness, yes, that’s amazing! Have you read Insert Title Here, by Up-and-Coming Author? I would love to read your book/story/poem. It sounds right up my alley!”
So, if you’re looking for someone to hire to help with your writing, make sure they’re well-acquainted with your genre, so they can give you advice based on what they’re seeing in the market. Based on what they know sells.
That isn’t to say that you should follow all of their advice. And that isn’t to say you should never pay someone who isn’t intimately aware of the last few years of the genre you’re writing in. For example, if you know that you have an issue with throwing commas wildly throughout your manuscripts, by all means, hire someone to find them. Or, if you’re writing about an identity or experience that you haven’t lived, hire a sensitivity reader or someone with the technical expertise to help you get those details right.
But, in general, when money is flowing out of your pocket, you want to take every precaution you can to ensure that you’ll get a return on that investment sooner rather than later.
I’ve mentioned this in a past post, but there are Hugo winning and nominated authors and editors who offer the same services as the book doctor or coach you meet at your local writing convention. Editors who can give you a long list of authors and the published books they worked on together. Self-published authors who can rattle of their sales numbers and books’ positions in their respective genres.
Many of these professionals with a long track record of getting stories and books published charge the same, if not less, for the services as the person soliciting every single person they can find.
So as much as I’d like to help out those who are just getting started, when I pay others to look over my work, I always look for the green flags that tell me they’re a good investment. I’ll have more posts about green flags to look out for (and probably some red flags) coming soon.