There are many avenues you can take to find readers for your work. Reading and writing groups abound on social media platforms. I’ve personally found a lot of success in a beta reading group on Facebook. But not all feedback is the same, and how you ask can be just as important as who you ask. So here are some tips on how to ask for feedback as well as ways to sift through it so you don’t cry yourself to sleep every night.

Start Small

Unless someone is very familiar with your work, the odds of you finding a reader for your entire 150,000 word manuscript are very small. Start by asking for feedback on a more digestible portion of your work. First chapter, first three chapters, first 1500 words. You get the idea.

Be Specific

Not all readers are writers, so be specific in the type of feedback you’re looking for. The average reader can tell you whether they liked your work or not, but articulating why may be more difficult. A writer reading your work may be more specific about flow and tension, pacing, character development and so on. But again, not all writers are at the same level. Some are just starting out, and others have been writing for decades. Don’t make assumptions about your readers. Instead, tell your potential reader exactly what you’re looking for in terms of feedback. “Tell me if this is trash,” isn’t going to be as helpful as “Tell me if this is engaging, and if at any point it stops becoming interesting, please note where and why.”

If you’re not sure if a dialogue scene works, ask questions that will help readers to flesh out their feelings on it. Is it believable? Does it make sense? Is it funny or boring? Do you zone out at any point? Be as specific as you can without sounding ridiculous. Asking readers, for example, to comment on every action tag or to line edit several pages of manuscript is asking too much.

Be Respectful

I can’t stress this point enough, especially on social media platforms. If you’re posting an excerpt or blurb or whatever and you get feedback that either isn’t helpful or isn’t positive, don’t let it get you down. Don’t lash out or get snarky. I understand the knee-jerk reaction is to defend your work, but remember, you’re asking for feedback because, on some level, you know your work isn’t there yet. Anytime you open yourself up to criticism, you’re going to get criticized. Mentally prepare yourself for this.

Process Feedback Carefully

Now, on to how to process and sift through all the slush. I’ll start with an example. I once asked for feedback for this intro to my short story “Sniper For Hire“:

Five Ranch suburbs. An ocean of homes neatly fixed along perfect rows of well-lit streets. A private road veered North, winding up the hill to a circle of three story villas. They painted a beautiful, tranquil picture. A vivid contrast to the hostility festering out of sight. A shot, unheard, zipped through the air.

Some of my feedback looked like this:

“Five Ranch suburbs isn’t a complete sentence.”

“Your first and second sentences aren’t sentences. You need a subject and an object.”

“A shot unheard isn’t a shot at all. If no one was there to hear it, it didn’t happen.”

Not especially helpful advice for creative fiction. But guess what? I asked for critique. And out of the 33 comments I received, most of the critique was helpful. Even if I didn’t agree with the comment, the fact that another reader saw my work differently was humbling enough for me to take a step back and think, how can I make this better?

A few examples of the good feedback I received:

Both “perfect” and “beautiful” are too nondescript to my taste.

A great comment because it showed I needed to enhance my descriptions. Since every word counted, I really wanted my short story to stand out. So I adjusted my word choices.

You told us about the festering hostility. Leave it out. The shot means someone is hostile.

Another excellent point made. Sometimes we’re redundant and say the same thing twice even though it’s unnecessary (See what I did there?). I didn’t completely agree with the comment, though. It was important to showcase the hostility beneath the serenity of the location. But I found a better way to make my point – without being redundant.

I’m not sure ocean is the word you want to refer an image of buildings fixed in place: I picture an ocean as always moving.

In creative writing, it’s perfectly fine to describe objects (like buildings) in unfamiliar ways. But this comment showed me that my metaphor was too flat to be useful. So I fixed it. And my short story earned me 5^th place in the writing competition I entered. The final segment looked like this:

Five Ranch suburbs. An ocean of homes neatly fixed along waves of well-lit streets. A private road broke from the others, veering north as it wound up the hill. Four multistory villas stretched out in a circle at the top, basking in a blanket of light. A tranquil scene. An utter farce.

A silent shot zipped through the air.

Ask For Clarification

At times, feedback may be unclear. It’s perfectly acceptable to ask for clarification. Sometimes readers say really vague things like “It feels like you just made things up.” Ask for specifics. Sometimes you might get a reader that says they like your story, but they only have negative things to say about it (As a reader who is also a writer, I’m guilty of this). Writers tend to point out things that don’t necessarily bother them but still need to be fixed. Personally, I don’t mind adverbs. But I know they’re considered amateurish, and I will point out excessive usage if I’m reading something.

Look For Consensus

When you get opposing views, try to look for consensus. Do more readers lean one way or the other? Do you have several readers commenting about the same thing? Sometimes consensus will be split. In that case, take a break from the scene and come back to it later with fresh eyes.

Remember, It’s Your Story

Remember that reading is subjective and not everyone will love your work. It’s also good to remember that nothing you present will ever be perfect. So don’t strive for perfection. Strive to do your best work with the skills and knowledge you have. An essay written by a five year old can bring a grownup to tears.

Absolutely no one can tell you your writing is worthless. I mean, they can, but it doesn’t mean anything. Writing is both skill and art, and if creating with words is something you love, don’t let the opinions of others keep you from it. The more you write, the better you’ll get. Skills can be improved with practice.

I write to process the hard stuff. Some of what I write will never be seen by anyone but me. Other works are meant to be shared, and the goal is to get my message across as clearly and skillfully as I can.

There will always be someone who says something rude for no reason or tries to pass off their opinion as canon. Don’t engage with those who are rude, and always thank your readers for their feedback. They took the time to stop and read your work. For free. It’s not always easy to find someone to read your work. So count yourself lucky when you do.

If you’re interested in getting feedback for a fee, there are a few things you can try. My writer friend, Donna Stone, wrote an interesting piece on using writing contests as a strategy for feedback. Read her article “What I Learned From Entering Writing Contests” for more details.

That’s my Write or Die Advice. Happy sifting!