Great point about asking local book shops and libraries if they carry a friend's book. I hadn't thought of that. Great way to bring that book to a library's attention.
I love this video! I get questions from my friends all the time on how they can help me. I do tend to focus on reviewing, but these other suggestions are great :0)
Thank you for the tips Emma. I have a writer friend and I think I haven't helped him enough... So I'll try applying all these tips. I think you can tell someone if the book has significant mistakes... But it needs to be handled well. However, I doubt that such negative feedback can ever be received well because the writer will just panic.
Those are some great ways to support writers. Unprompted criticism can be a mixed bag. It depends on my relationship with the person. I don't mind if a close friend lets me know of a typo or grammatical error, but an acquaintance telling me is different. Especially if I haven't talked to that person in a long time and our first conversation involves errors in my work.
This is a great list of ways to support our writer friends. In terms of telling friends mistakes you find in their work: When I first released Indisputably Doris I did six events over four weeks for National Libraries Week. It's documented on my channel, and basically the events were poorly attended and I ended up feeling somewhat despondent that my book wasn't a success. (I still have a box full of the book.) Therefore, it was quite upsetting when a friend of mine sent me a list of every mistake they found + things they disliked about the book. I don't mind being told about mistakes, but I definitely suggest "reading the room", or even asking if the writer wants such feedback. I need to get better at reviewing books on Amazon/Goodreads. I so rarely do it, despite knowing how much help it can be. Hope you have a marvellous weekend. :D
Great list! I want to add “if you come to the launch party, please do not ask ‘what’s next?’, so we can enjoy this release for five seconds without worrying about the next.”
Great suggestions! Your comment about not wanting to know if your book has typos in it after it's been published really hit a nerve with me. I hate to read a book with typos. If I had a friend who was an author who published a book with typos, what kind of friend would I be if I didn't tell him/her? I'd never let an author know about plot issues or anything about their creative choices, because those are creative choices. But typos are mistakes. I don't think any author wants to sell their book with mistakes in them. And as a reader, I HATE buying a book with typos in them -- there's absolutely no excuse for typos!! None! I could go on and on about this (in fact, I did have several paragraphs about how I felt about typos, but I shortened them -- yes, this is the shortened version), but you get my point. I will tell you this story. I used to read a Harlequin Romance author. When she self-published her first book, I excitedly paid for it and read it. She had scenes out of order! So for example, in Chapter 3, the character was referring to something that hadn't happened yet. I was confused. And then that thing would happen in Chapter 6 or so. I was pretty angry, since I had paid for the book, so I definitely sent the author an email about it. I've never bought anything by her since then. Her extremely sloppiness told me how much Harlequin had put into her books, and how much she put into her books. As an author, you might not like to get an email pointing out errors, but as a reader, when I pay for the book, I don't want to read a sloppy book. And typos and grammatical errors are just sloppy. Anyway, that's my take on it! I loved these suggestions!
I agree about the typos. I had a friend of mine let me know that several paragraphs were repeated in one of my books. I thanked her profusely!! Since I am a digitial-first author, the book was updated really quickly and the problem resolved. :0)
I think the difficulty is that if you know the writer there's an extra layer of tact needed. I totally see what you mean about expecting quality (it's why I paid an editor - although I still spotted and corrected a couple of errors later) and personally I'd rather know than not - but it'd have to be approached sensitively.
Someone once told me after my book was already out that there's a point at which at one point, someone is climbing on to their motorbike and at the next, they're getting out the back of a taxi -.- That was a pain to fix!
Great point about asking local book shops and libraries if they carry a friend's book. I hadn't thought of that. Great way to bring that book to a library's attention.
I love this video! I get questions from my friends all the time on how they can help me. I do tend to focus on reviewing, but these other suggestions are great :0)
Thanks! Glad it's helpful!
Great video and advice, I will have to show my friends so that they know how to support me and my writer friends. Have a blessed day, Emma!
Thank you - you too
Thank you for the tips Emma.
I have a writer friend and I think I haven't helped him enough... So I'll try applying all these tips.
I think you can tell someone if the book has significant mistakes... But it needs to be handled well.
However, I doubt that such negative feedback can ever be received well because the writer will just panic.
That's true, it's super sensitive
Those are some great ways to support writers. Unprompted criticism can be a mixed bag. It depends on my relationship with the person. I don't mind if a close friend lets me know of a typo or grammatical error, but an acquaintance telling me is different. Especially if I haven't talked to that person in a long time and our first conversation involves errors in my work.
Yes, that makes sense
This is a great list of ways to support our writer friends.
In terms of telling friends mistakes you find in their work:
When I first released Indisputably Doris I did six events over four weeks for National Libraries Week. It's documented on my channel, and basically the events were poorly attended and I ended up feeling somewhat despondent that my book wasn't a success. (I still have a box full of the book.) Therefore, it was quite upsetting when a friend of mine sent me a list of every mistake they found + things they disliked about the book. I don't mind being told about mistakes, but I definitely suggest "reading the room", or even asking if the writer wants such feedback.
I need to get better at reviewing books on Amazon/Goodreads. I so rarely do it, despite knowing how much help it can be.
Hope you have a marvellous weekend. :D
Oh man, yes definitely know when to say something!
I think offering to help man a sales booth would be amazing.
That's a nice idea!
Great list! I want to add “if you come to the launch party, please do not ask ‘what’s next?’, so we can enjoy this release for five seconds without worrying about the next.”
Great suggestions! Your comment about not wanting to know if your book has typos in it after it's been published really hit a nerve with me. I hate to read a book with typos. If I had a friend who was an author who published a book with typos, what kind of friend would I be if I didn't tell him/her? I'd never let an author know about plot issues or anything about their creative choices, because those are creative choices. But typos are mistakes. I don't think any author wants to sell their book with mistakes in them. And as a reader, I HATE buying a book with typos in them -- there's absolutely no excuse for typos!! None! I could go on and on about this (in fact, I did have several paragraphs about how I felt about typos, but I shortened them -- yes, this is the shortened version), but you get my point. I will tell you this story. I used to read a Harlequin Romance author. When she self-published her first book, I excitedly paid for it and read it. She had scenes out of order! So for example, in Chapter 3, the character was referring to something that hadn't happened yet. I was confused. And then that thing would happen in Chapter 6 or so. I was pretty angry, since I had paid for the book, so I definitely sent the author an email about it. I've never bought anything by her since then. Her extremely sloppiness told me how much Harlequin had put into her books, and how much she put into her books. As an author, you might not like to get an email pointing out errors, but as a reader, when I pay for the book, I don't want to read a sloppy book. And typos and grammatical errors are just sloppy. Anyway, that's my take on it! I loved these suggestions!
I agree about the typos. I had a friend of mine let me know that several paragraphs were repeated in one of my books. I thanked her profusely!! Since I am a digitial-first author, the book was updated really quickly and the problem resolved. :0)
I think the difficulty is that if you know the writer there's an extra layer of tact needed. I totally see what you mean about expecting quality (it's why I paid an editor - although I still spotted and corrected a couple of errors later) and personally I'd rather know than not - but it'd have to be approached sensitively.
Someone once told me after my book was already out that there's a point at which at one point, someone is climbing on to their motorbike and at the next, they're getting out the back of a taxi -.- That was a pain to fix!
I stan for this.
Thanks!
What if you are a beta reader and think the writing is bad? Or if you read it snd they want your thoughts?
Yes, I think that's different because it's asked for.