Should You Ask Your Friends and Family to Review Your Manuscript?

It is important to get feedback on your story. But should you ask your friends and family to review your manuscript? Read this blog to find out!

As I worked on Getting By, I never had friends or family look at my manuscript since I thought it was best for an editor to see it first. The work of my professional editors significantly impacted the shape of my debut novel. Does that mean the feedback offered by those closest to me wasn’t of value? Not entirely. When it comes to whether or not you should get feedback from your friends or family before you publish a book, the short answer is: It depends!

Reading As a Pastime

If you’re going to reach out to your friends or family to get a review, it’s vital that they be interested in reading in the first place. What’s more, you need to know if they are interested in the genre you’re writing for.

What good is getting notes on story structure from your uncle, who’s heavily invested in reading The Economist exclusively? Sure, he may be a wise and thoughtful person, but his feedback will be so subjective that its value on your young adult novel will be skewed and likely useless.

“But Jaire!” you may object, “Surely, if I can pique his interest, then fans of the genre are certain to appreciate my work!” Yes, that has some validity but mainly from the confidence boost.

It will be far more valuable to approach your friends and family actually in your story’s target demographic because you can get a meaningful insight about what is working for them, why they don’t think it’s a good fit and everything in between. As fans of reading such books, they will also understand story structure more, so they can offer some technical feedback.

Using Some Expertise

When it comes to speaking with an expert, I don’t mean avid fans or an experienced author you know of the genre you’re writing for (though the latter would be great!) The only time you’ll want to turn to your learned economist-minded uncle or, say, a girlfriend that went to med school is for their expertise in the subject you’re writing about.

Suppose you know someone that can help make your content and story more realistic with their knowledge. In that case, it can be useful to hear their opinion to address any plot holes due to misinformation or suggest credible sources to expand your research.

Connecting with a Peer

Reaching out to colleagues is a great way to get feedback on your manuscript, as other authors can offer a unique perspective on your creative choices.

If you know other writers or even professional editors willing to help you out, that’s amazing. But you still need to be discerning. It’s worth considering the genres they’re familiar with and their experience level.

A starting writer like you can certainly offer an opinion, but if they know little more than you do about the craft, it won’t put you much further ahead. Don’t let yourself fall into the trap of “any author will do!”

Before You Ask, Be Aware

If you decide to indulge in friends’ and family’s feedback prior to publishing your novel, I want to offer some words of caution.

Remember, you’re asking a favor

Be thoughtful and gracious when accepting their feedback. You don’t want to spoil relationships by being defensive and combative when they’re doing something nice for you on their own time. Say “Thanks!” and trust that their opinion is valid.

Remember to be specific

When you share your manuscript, consider who you want to review it with and what feedback you’re asking for from them. If you ask a general, “What do you think?” you’ll get equally general responses. So if you’re going to reach out to those experts discussed, be they experienced readers or academics, prepare some questions for them to keep in mind as they read.

Remember that they may not know what to say

That could lead to no feedback (and you need to be okay with that), or you might receive useless filler feedback if they feel put on the spot and just want to be helpful, ultimately ending up the opposite. That is the riskiest aspect when reaching out to friends or family because no feedback can drive you nuts and bad feedback can send you off making ineffectual revisions.

You Get What You Pay For

When you’re publishing a novel, reaching out to your friends and family is an attractive prospect because it’s often cheap or free. That’s not to say all of their feedback will be useless.

What I mean is that when you invest in working with a professional editor, who knows how to work with your genre and has years of experience doing what you’re asking for, there’s a better guarantee you will receive the best feedback your manuscript will need to improve.

They can also cover many more bases, like having them look at the technical aspects alongside the story structure and how compelling a read it is. In the end, it could be much more worth your time and energy to invest the money into hiring a professional.

However you get your feedback, it’s up to you how you apply it. You need to sift through the good and the bad, which is a skill in and of itself, and trust that if someone has a problem with your book, even if that person can’t articulate it, it’s worth reviewing the issue.

I hope this helped answer the question if you should ask your friends and family to review your manuscript. I go into more detail and have several resources in my course, and you’re welcome to reach out if you have some questions (though I can’t promise to review your manuscript for you!) Get in touch with me at jsims@jairesims.com and find me on social media to connect.