3 ms·

Assholes don't write a 10-pages letter to help you do your job. They especially do not help you do your job. Scott is unlikely to be an asshole. His, was a fri

by Amygaz 9y ago

Assholes don't write a 10-pages letter to help you do your job. They especially do not help you do your job. Scott is unlikely to be an asshole. His, was a friendly comment. From what the author wrote, the comments allowed him to ponder and make the manuscript better. So constructive criticism does work.

caseysoftware 9y ago
Yes, this is key. "Assholes" don't give constructive feedback and try to make things better. They drop "witty" one-liners, hot takes, and move along to posture for a new audience or ruin someone else's day. Of course, delivering bad news is hard. Most people are awful at it. Most people don't really want it. They want a pat on the head and get told their work is near-perfect. I advise on a few startups and mentor at Techstars Austin. When a company asks me to watch their pitch, I ask them: "Do you want honest feedback no matter what or just a thumbs up? I'm happy to do the first but I won't do the second." The relationships that come through honest, constructive collaboration are the best part of mentoring.
scandox 9y ago
Yes but it is damn hard to tell someone that a book has fundamental flaws. A big part of editorial is also emotional support and faith. So the editor must have dug very deep to be able to actually tell him you have to go back to the foundations. It would have been much much easier to say "it needs this or that series of changes" hoping it would be enough and avoid the more emotionally difficult task of saying "this does not work at all in its current form". So it may help to have an inner asshole when doing this.
- woodandsteel 9y ago
  Yes, it is hard to decide to give strong negative feedback. But an editor will generally do it anyway, because they are being paid by the publisher, and so their job is to make the book a success.

3 ms·

Assholes don't write a 10-pages letter to help you do your job. They especially do not help you do your job. Scott is unlikely to be an asshole. His, was a fri

by Amygaz 9y ago

caseysoftware 9y ago
Yes, this is key. "Assholes" don't give constructive feedback and try to make things better. They drop "witty" one-liners, hot takes, and move along to posture for a new audience or ruin someone else's day. Of course, delivering bad news is hard. Most people are awful at it. Most people don't really want it. They want a pat on the head and get told their work is near-perfect. I advise on a few startups and mentor at Techstars Austin. When a company asks me to watch their pitch, I ask them: "Do you want honest feedback no matter what or just a thumbs up? I'm happy to do the first but I won't do the second." The relationships that come through honest, constructive collaboration are the best part of mentoring.
scandox 9y ago
Yes but it is damn hard to tell someone that a book has fundamental flaws. A big part of editorial is also emotional support and faith. So the editor must have dug very deep to be able to actually tell him you have to go back to the foundations. It would have been much much easier to say "it needs this or that series of changes" hoping it would be enough and avoid the more emotionally difficult task of saying "this does not work at all in its current form". So it may help to have an inner asshole when doing this.
- woodandsteel 9y ago
  Yes, it is hard to decide to give strong negative feedback. But an editor will generally do it anyway, because they are being paid by the publisher, and so their job is to make the book a success.