Is It Normal For An Author To Feel Like Their Book Is Terrible (While They’re Writing It)?
Absolutely. Especially before working with a good editor. I remember one of my first clients, whose book ended up becoming a huge cornerstone of her very successful business, being in tears on the first discovery call with me because she was afraid her book was so bad it just wasn’t worth publishing. (It didn’t help that she had previously worked with multiple bad editors before connecting with me.) Point being, her book was fine — in fact, for a rough draft that had been mangled by the aforementioned bad editors, it was surprisingly good. But she was worried that it was terrible.
This is natural. As authors, we are so close to our work that unless we have extensive writing training (and often even then), we have very little conception of whether our writing is any good. This tends to lead to one of two outcomes: either we think it’s absolutely amazing, or we think it’s terrible. Sometimes both at different points in the same book project. And while both feelings are valid to feel, they are still subjective — that is, they’re your opinion, and therefore are pretty biased.
This is actually good news, for two reasons.
The first reason is that you know your own thoughts and feelings better than anyone else. If you’re honest with yourself, you can usually tell if your thought of “my book is awesome!” or “my book sucks!” is coming from a thoughtful evaluation of the situation, or from your ego, a sense of fear, a desire to be validated, frustration with the process, etc. You can use those thoughts as a barometer to help figure out what the real issues you’re struggling with are, and how (or even if) those issues relate to the book you’re working on. And from there you can form a more objective evaluation of your writing. I’ve seen authors going through this process realize that they’re missing key pieces of their message or even writing the wrong book. I’ve also seen them triumph over their own fear of being a writer in the first place and produce really solid work.
The second reason is that when you know you’re biased, you have a very good reason to seek out an unbiased perspective. I’m not going to say that no editor has biases, but I will say that a quality one prioritizes giving the author an objective evaluation of their writing. That is, not that the author’s work is good and/or bad by the editor’s opinion, but that it is good and/or bad by the editor’s standards as an experienced professional. From there, it’s an easy step to figuring out how to make the book better — often better than you ever thought it could be, whether you initially felt it was good or bad.
But without relying on the objectivity of the editor in the first place, improving the book is a lot harder. If you think it’s great, you’ll resist changing it. If you think it’s horrible, you’ll see improving it as an impossible task and wonder if it’s worth even trying. Either way, your own subjectivity can work against you. This is one of the best reasons to work with a good editor. Once your personal feelings are countered by their professional experience, you’re free to make your book the best it can be.
