Karma & Snickers
A few weeks ago I wrote about editing. Between then and now, I’ve finished the edit and have sent it to the publisher. She is doing another read-through and then is giving it to some beta readers. If you know what beta readers are, forgive me for telling you something you already know, but if you don’t know, beta readers are like a test group of readers in an author’s target audience. My book is a Young Adult Contemporary novel, so my target audience is 12 years to 18 years old, although a lot of adults also read YA. The beta readers she has selected are middle school students. So right now, I am biting my nails worrying about whether or not a bunch of twelve-year-olds will like my story and my writing.
When I say, “a bunch of twelve-year-olds,” I don’t say that with any disdain; I say it with sheer terror. My son substitute teaches middle schoolers and when I told him about my beta readers, he said something like, “Oh, well they’re brutally honest, so they won’t be afraid to say if they hate it.” Greaaaat, I thought, and then a few seconds later, I thought, Wait, this actually IS great. Because even though brutal honesty is a frightening concept, it’s necessary. If there’s something seriously wrong with my manuscript, I need to know about it. If there’s a huge hole in my plot, I need to know about it. If any of my characters aren’t believable, I need to know about it. Those twelve-year-old beta readers are like my own little guardian angels in human form; they’re the ones who will keep me from walking out into the world with toilet paper on my shoe. Most importantly, they’re the ones who I wrote the book for, so they’re the ones that matter.
That’s not to say that I don’t value the opinion of the few people who have already read the book. I do. But since those people know me, it would be hard for them to tell me to keep my day job. Plus, they’re adults. These beta readers are kids…kids who don’t know me and could care less if they hurt my feelings. While I’m hoping that the publisher comes back to me and says, “They loved it,” I’m gearing myself up for the worst-case scenario. “They loved it, but they didn’t like this part or that part,” would also work, and “They liked it,” would even be okay. All of the different possible outcomes cycle through my brain as I wait. By the way, Tom Petty (RIP) was right.
Unlike what I usually write, there’s really no point to this post. In the beginning, I said I’d sometimes write about where I’m at in the process of getting published, so that’s what I’m doing today. Plus, this weekend is a busy one and I still have some things on my list of stuff to do, with my first priority being to go out and buy some really good Halloween candy for the kids that come calling on Wednesday. They say that you attract the energy that you put out into the universe, so I’m thinking I’ll throw some Snickers into the universe, cross my fingers, and hope that the universe responds in kind.