Finding Editorial Guinea Pigs

All writers are, like a artists, the worse critics of ourselves. It is already hard to be objective on people we know, so how can we be objective on ourselves.

Normal people are empathic creatures and do like to care for others, or not. We cannot save the world.

Now when you have written a piece of work you like to get published, you might be satisfied with yourself. But are you sure your work is well written or worth enough for people to spend money on it?

Well, most published printings contain some errors. Usually your read over and do not mind. Newspaper editors have such short deadlines, that in their speed, they might deliver crappy work. No time to review, just get it on the printer when it is fresh.

Normally we read over them and if it does not disturb the readability, you might not blush when one remains in.

Still more eyes can see more. So best way is to find people who might read the work for you. You can hire a professional editor, but changes are you might not pay off what (s)he charges you.

If you do not mind that and have the budget, go for it. But many hobby writers do not have that luxury and most professional editors work for the big earning publishing companies that only spread what can earn them.

So what can you do as a hobby writer? Publish articles on line. It will not cost you a thing. You might even earn some pennies on it.

In that case you will get a wide range audience of people on your work and see if you can maintain traffic on your articles.

Write about several things. Keep in mind that creative writing, or fiction might not be read much or might not earn much on line. But put some short stories on.

See if there are comments and if people liked reading your work. See who is commenting. If it are fellow writers, you are in the right seat.

Also try to attract people who know you less personal. Make pdf of your work and send it to 10 pen pals from your social network and see their reactions. They might say it is great, because they know you, but maybe some might be helpful because of that and do point out what they had likes less.

Do not try to please them all. You will always have pros and cons. Work your own style. Learn from, but do not copy others.

I found out that reading normal blog posts from native English speakers is not a great idea, since many do make a lot of mistakes while typing a text.

But write edited work of writers to learn. And do not mind criticizing them. Read a book twice: once for the story and once for the style.

Well, if you read a sentance in a book, that is complex grammar, fills half a page and contains twice “there was”, like I lately discoverd in a Marion Bradley novel. If you feel like getting your red pen, I believe you might be in to improve your skills.

Another idea: put your work on the Lulu market place before spending money on self publishing and see if it sells. This might also be an indication.