What Should Writers Know Before Seeking Feedback from Editors?

Writer reflects on paying for additional feedback

Welcome to our weekly column offering perspectives on lit mag publishing, with contributions from readers, writers and editors around the world.

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We need to talk about feedback in the lit mag world. As someone who has been fortunate to be published in over 50 journals and magazines in 5 countries, I know something of whereof I speak but no doubt there are many readers here who could multiply that a number of times.

It also has to be said that I submit a lot and, like many of you, I find that success is rare. This is fully understandable, given the volume of submissions and entries that the hundreds of lit mags receive. Thoughtful feedback from editors is even rarer.

Most lit mags don’t have the bandwidth to offer feedback and that’s the reality you need to face when you submit. However many do, for a fee. This is an investment well worth considering every now and then (if you have the funds). But it is always wise to be discerning in where you seek feedback.

Recently I received feedback I’d paid for from a lit mag. Now, for the price I paid I wasn't expecting golden tablets from the top of the literary mountain but I did expect at least some respect for me as a writer. 

What I got from two unnamed readers/editors, whose credentials were unstated, was feedback that did not resonate with me at all. Of a particular instance in my story where the editor felt I was telling and not showing, the feedback was this: “[T]elling takes the intrigue out of the story and makes it sound like you are talking down to your reader. How do you think that makes them feel?”  

While it’s true that showing can be more effective than telling (though telling arguably has its time and place as well), this mini-lecture felt condescending. As did the little therapeutic-sounding inquiry tacked onto it.

Worse, the editor offered barely a word of encouragement. I don’t know how my imaginary reader felt or did not feel. But I do know exactly how this feedback made me feel.

Even more recently, I received notes from two unnamed reviewers on two stories I’d submitted to a contest with a word limit of 110. The second story had the reviewer wanting the main character more fleshed out (in a story of less than 110 words). The second reviewer was puzzled as to why the protagonist wanted it to rain in the middle of a drought. As John McEnroe famously said in another context, You cannot be serious.

What I am raising is not about sour grapes versus fulsome praise. I’ve had my share of what I believe to be good feedback (even when it hurt to read) about my writing shortcomings and bad feedback that indicates that the reviewer and I inhabit different universes and never the twain shall meet.

Feedback is not for the thin-skinned. Any feedback that questions the quality of your writing, even when put gently as most reviewers do, is challenging to accept. (‘How dare they attack my carefully raised and precious child!’)

But when a reviewer uses a sledgehammer to drive a tack into what they see as your flaws, it makes it that much more difficult to suck it up and consider that they may have a point. Even worse are the few that seem to take vicious delight in undermining your confidence behind the cloak of anonymity. (In passing, I should note that on the rare occasions that I have offered feedback on the quality of the feedback I received from a lit mag, I have never had a response.)

So how can writers trust that feedback from lit mags will be informed, specifically helpful and encouraging and not just a tack-on strategy to increase their income?

Here are some suggestions you might try, and which I will certainly use in the future.

1. Scour the magazine’s website for any details about how they offer feedback and the qualifications of their reviewers. For example, ‘101 words’ reviewers are listed on their site, along with their experience and publishing history. This should be the minimum industry standard.

2. Ask them. Contact the editors and ask about the type of feedback they offer and what length. Is there an overriding philosophy that guides the feedback they provide? Does it come from reviewers who have experience in providing critique and/or have a record of success with their own work?

3. Check out the Lit Mag Brag feature of Lit Mag News (the last weekend of every month) to find mags that have had respectful conversations with writers about their work.

The bottom line is that any feedback that makes you want to just give up and which offers no encouragement is worse than no feedback at all.

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