Jim Collins’s Feedback Method

Getting honest critical feedback
can often be challenging.

Jim Collins, Author of Good To Great,
has a unique method.

Yes, he gets feedback
from a large circle of people
but…
“To make sure
they don’t hold back,
he refers to them
as his “critical readers,”
and types in large letters
atop the manuscript,
“Bad First Draft.”

“That gives them the freedom to say,
‘Jim already knows it’s bad,
so let me tell him how it’s bad,’ ”
he says.”

I did that when venturing into a new genre.
I gave my story to an ‘expert’ in the genre
and said
“This doesn’t work.
Can you tell me why it doesn’t work?”

She then openly discussed
why it didn’t work.
I learned.
I applied.
I got published.

If you want brutal but real criticism,
tell your critic the product sucks.