As I keep charging...sometimes slogging...through the second half of the book, I'm overjoyed to have as many people willing to offer great feedback as I've received. Last time I asked for feedback, it was regarding a survey for faculty members in career colleges for my dissertation, and I got less than 50% "Yes" rate and then less than 50% who actually gave me feedback. I've already had a better response on the book, and I have specifically told anyone who's asked that I don't need responses back for a month.
Awesome. Awesome, awesome, awesome.
It's a good thing to me that nobody has given me a "loved it, buh bye" response. Truth be told, I kinda expected to receive a few of those, because I got several on the survey. While that response is all warm and fuzzy, it leaves me with a quizzical "did you really even read it?" feeling. I knew there were flaws in the survey, but in the academic process I needed my "panel of expert reviewers" to tell me that before I could change them. Similarly, but for different reasons, I knew there were problems with the book. In, well, the back of my mind, anyway. Hey, it's hard to spend two months writing something and finish a two week long revision without jumping and hopping in pride and pleasure a bit. But I know that I only have one mind, and while I know what I like, I also know I can spend hours...days...weeks...months, even...revising back and forth. I even thought briefly in the review process of taking out one part that nearly everybody reviewing it loves. That's why I sent it early...quick validation from several people on what was working, and what wasn't, so I can more intelligently mold the 3rd, 4th, and maybe even 7th and 8th revisions.
None of the responses, then, surprise me. The one thing that is a little surprising, honestly, is how consistent they are so far. Everybody who's replied has liked certain things, and disliked other things. I'm not gonna say what those are for now, because it might color the responses of anyone who hasn't finished yet. But the consistency is really quite excellent news, especially since nothing anybody has mentioned is unfixable.
So, short version...*ahem*...I'm excited, even more so than I was when I started the project in the first place or when I sent it out for review. And I continue to be thankful for everyone who's devoted time to helping me get there. I presume a free copy of the book and a mention in the acknowledgements page is standard, but it doesn't seem enough for what y'all have done.
Word count: 5,426
V7N Blog Challenge
No comments:
Post a Comment