Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2: Good Morning, This is Laura, Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is that feedback is about the person giving it.
Speaker 1: It can be helpful or unhelpful, but it is important
Speaker 1: to keep it in perspective. I recently reread Tara Moore's
Speaker 1: book Playing Big, which has lots of helpful tips about
Speaker 1: finding your voice and becoming more influential. More reminds readers
Speaker 1: that feedback from your target audience is incredibly helpful, but
Speaker 1: with feedback in general, you have to keep in mind
Speaker 1: that it is simply telling you about the person who
Speaker 1: is giving it, nothing more. Here is one quick exercise
Speaker 1: More suggests as a way to realize this. Think about
Speaker 1: a book you read recently that you enjoyed. Now go
Speaker 1: to Amazon and read the reviews. Read a five star
Speaker 1: review and read a one star or two star review,
Speaker 1: because for almost every major book there are going to
Speaker 1: be some of both. Sometimes these polar opposite reviews can
Speaker 1: even be talking about the same thing.
Speaker 2: Someone thinks the characters are wildly inventive. Someone else thinks
Speaker 2: they're unbelievable. All that feedback really tells you is that
Speaker 2: the first person likes characters who require a little more
Speaker 2: imagination that get you into a different world. The second
Speaker 2: likes characters that you feel you already know. Now, neither
Speaker 2: is particularly right. It might matter which reader is in
Speaker 2: the target market, but you don't really get to stand
Speaker 2: there in a bookstore or library and dictate who picks
Speaker 2: it up. Now, if you'd like to get your book
Speaker 2: published by a particular publisher and the editor who acquires
Speaker 2: your kind of fiction likes characters in a certain style,
Speaker 2: well that feedback will matter if you want that particular outcome.
Speaker 2: But with a lot of feedback to eat your own. Now,
Speaker 2: if you get a lot of a particular kind of
Speaker 2: feedback and it resonates with you, incorporate it. If you
Speaker 2: get a lot of feedback that doesn't resonate with you,
Speaker 2: but those people aren't in your target market and aren't
Speaker 2: decision makers, and whether your project sees the light of day,
Speaker 2: well feel free to thank people for their feedback and
Speaker 2: move on. This is so important because I have seen
Speaker 2: people try to adjust their entire style based on say,
Speaker 2: one review left on a podcast. I have seen people
Speaker 2: wither based on one critical comment on their outfit or
Speaker 2: something like that. Once upon a time, people could only
Speaker 2: give such feedback in person, which tempered the comments a bit.
Speaker 2: Once you are over the age of eight or so,
Speaker 2: very few people will flat out insult someone to their face,
Speaker 2: but online people can become playground tyrants. Again. Now again,
Speaker 2: this isn't to say some feedback isn't helpful. I have
Speaker 2: had incredibly helpful editors in my life. I've also had
Speaker 2: not so helpful editors. I've had readers give suggestions which
Speaker 2: changed my whole insight on something. It is truly a
Speaker 2: beautiful thing. I've also had readers give what sounds like
Speaker 2: really horrible suggestions. So you just have to realize that
Speaker 2: feedback only tells you about the person giving it. It
Speaker 2: tells you if they liked your work or they didn't,
Speaker 2: or something they thought worked or didn't. It doesn't fundamentally
Speaker 2: say whether your work is good or not. When you
Speaker 2: realize that, you feel free to incorporate what is helpful,
Speaker 2: but keep your sense of self and control over your
Speaker 2: work when it isn't helpful. There are a lot of
Speaker 2: critics in the world, so best to keep that mindset.
Speaker 2: In the meantime, this is Laura, Thanks for listening, and
Speaker 2: here's to making the most of our tax Thanks for
Speaker 2: listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback,
Speaker 2: you can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.
Speaker 2: Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts
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