Are you actually ready for feedback? 🗣️

5 biggest mistakes writers make with feedback (and how to avoid them)

As a developmental editor who’s worked with more than 1,000 authors over my career, I’ve seen writers experience the full spectrum of emotional responses to feedback. Some are energized and encouraged. Others are overwhelmed and disheartened.

Receiving feedback can be an emotional rollercoaster — so let’s make sure you’re strapped in tight and secure before you embark on it.

Despite there being a ton of writing advice on the Internet (perhaps too much), we don’t often discuss how to receive feedback effectively.

• How (and when) should you respond to feedback?

• How do you know when you — and your story — are actually ready for feedback?

• What’s the most effective way to tackle revisions?

If you’re staring at your editorial letter or critique partner’s notes feeling paralyzed, here’s how to approach feedback productively so that it serves you and your story.

These are the 5 most frequent mistakes I see authors make when receiving feedback — and how to avoid them so you can hit the ground running with a stronger next draft.

Mistake #1: Replying to feedback immediately

I recently worked with a women’s fiction author who’s hoping to query this coming summer. Her novel had an intriguing plot, but there were some structural issues regarding the multiple POVs and storylines.

When I delivered my feedback, she agreed with it, but was intimidated by the amount of work the structural overhauls would require. She wrote back to me within a few hours, questioning not just her publishing timeline, but whether her book was salvageable at all. She said she was considering tossing out the book entirely and pivoting to something else.

This response, while understandable, was heartbreaking for me to hear, since I saw a ton of potential in her novel and wanted to help her draw out the strongest version of it.

I recommended she take a week or two to let the feedback sit before revisiting it, since our immediate emotional response is rarely helpful in these moments.

She went dark for 12 days — then, something incredible happened.