Sending your manuscript to strangers?

Question

This feels like the dumbest question in the world but here it goes. I keep reading how new author should join editing groups and send their manuscipts to other hopefuls to give feed back on. This seems scary to me. You hand over your hard work and unique ideas to complete strangers who have the same goal as you? What keeps them from from using your idea for their own stories? Paranoid I know but this is my baby and I don't want to mess this up. Any advice?

Thanks!

J-

Answer 1

J, I would not send my ms. to people I don't know. So if you're not at ease with it, the answer is, don't.

What I would do, and did do, is set up a local critique group, so I would know the people who were seeing my work. Many years later, nobody's stolen anybody's work, not even their ideas.

I've also joined online writing sites like AbsoluteWrite (critters.org is another good one) where I post my work for critique, guarded by a password, after I've hung around long enough to get the confidence.

Sending it to other aspiring writers, without knowing their credentials, is foolish--not only could you get ripped off, but you're unlikely to get meaningful input that can help you improve the work.

Answer 2

You should personally meet with this person first. Or have your manuscript read by a trusted friend or a mentor of yours. You should not just hand it to anyone, that is right. Try to meet up for coffee and get to know each other first by work ethic and for more conversations.