• Contact
  • Account
    • Become an Affiliate
    • Sign Up for Deals

    • Login
Book Cave: Authors and Publisher promotional services and features
Book Cave
Authors & Publishers
Connecting the RIGHT readers with the RIGHT books
  • About
    • Book Cave Reviews
    • Who We Are
      • Mission
      • In the Works
      • Book Cave Logos
      • Meet the Ratings
    • Privacy Center
      • Privacy & Terms
      • Your Privacy Rights
    • Affiliate Program Agreement
    • Trademarks
  • Current Deals
    • Deals from Retailers
    • Book Cave Direct Deals
      • Exclusive Ebook Downloads
      • Free Group Deals
    • Giveaways
      • Win a Free Ereader!
      • Last Giveaway Winner
      • Past Winners
  • Readers
    • Sign Up
    • Rated Books Database
    • Rate a book I’ve read
    • Browse Author Pages
    • Reader FAQ
    • Reader Blog
    • Giveaways
      • Win a Free Ereader!
      • Last Giveaway Winner
      • Past Winners
  • Authors
    • How It Works
    • Our Services
      • Feature Your Book
      • Group Features
      • Subscriber Magnet Services
      • MBR Ratings
      • Create an Author Page
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Pricing
    • Submit a Book
    • Create Account
    • Become an Affiliate
    • Author Resources
      • Author Blog
      • Author FAQ
      • Promotion Tips
      • Cover Guide Calculator
  • Book Swag
  • Contact
  • Account
    • Become an Affiliate
    • Sign Up for Deals

    • Login
  • About
    • Book Cave Reviews
    • Who We Are
      • Mission
      • In the Works
      • Book Cave Logos
      • Meet the Ratings
    • Privacy Center
      • Privacy & Terms
      • Your Privacy Rights
    • Affiliate Program Agreement
    • Trademarks
  • Current Deals
    • Deals from Retailers
    • Book Cave Direct Deals
      • Exclusive Ebook Downloads
      • Free Group Deals
    • Giveaways
      • Win a Free Ereader!
      • Last Giveaway Winner
      • Past Winners
  • Readers
    • Sign Up
    • Rated Books Database
    • Rate a book I’ve read
    • Browse Author Pages
    • Reader FAQ
    • Reader Blog
    • Giveaways
      • Win a Free Ereader!
      • Last Giveaway Winner
      • Past Winners
  • Authors
    • How It Works
    • Our Services
      • Feature Your Book
      • Group Features
      • Subscriber Magnet Services
      • MBR Ratings
      • Create an Author Page
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Pricing
    • Submit a Book
    • Create Account
    • Become an Affiliate
    • Author Resources
      • Author Blog
      • Author FAQ
      • Promotion Tips
      • Cover Guide Calculator
  • Book Swag
Writing for Authors
11 Jun 2019 at 01:41 PM PDT
Posted 3 years ago

Pros and Cons of Writing Groups

By Catia Shattuck

Advertisement

JutohWe at Book Cave prefer Jutoh for ebook creation because it gives us more control than most other ebook software out there, while still maintaining a friendly interface.

Browse by topic

All Posts Ebook Formatting Grammar & Punctuation Publishing Tips Author Website Promotion & Marketing Social Media Mailing Lists Cover Design Tutorials Author Pages Technical Tips Writing for Authors

pros and cons of writing groups

I'm a book wyrm
We hope you enjoy reading this post!
If you’re like us and love to read, then click here to score tons of free and discounted ebooks.

A writing group is made up of writers who provide feedback and encouragement to help each other become better writers—and to publish and sell books. If you’re thinking of joining a writing group, here are some pros and cons to help you make your decision.

Pros

  • You can spend time with *real* people (and they are adults!).
  • You receive encouragement from like-minded people who don’t think you’re crazy for having entire conversations in your head.
  • You learn from the other members’ strengths.
  • You receive feedback and ideas on what you’re currently writing from a diverse group of people—for free.
  • You’ll learn to take feedback well. This includes understanding what the underlying problem is that prompted the feedback—maybe the suggested change isn’t the best one, but you can know that a change is needed because a scene is too stale, too unbelievable, too drawn-out, etc.
  • You’ll learn to give feedback well. And the more practice you have identifying flaws in others’ work, the better you’ll be able to identify flaws in your own work.
  • You have a group that holds you accountable for your goals.
  • You’ll learn about writing and publishing opportunities from others in the group.
  • Once you’ve published your book, your writing group can be a good source of reviews.

Cons

  • Some members will see the group as a way to polish their own half-formed, problem-riddled ideas, and then you have to read that stuff.
  • It is a time commitment that will take you away from writing and from your family.
  • Some members may not be experienced, so the advice you receive may not be as helpful as that received from more experienced authors. Again, you’ll need to try to understand the underlying problem behind the feedback, so you can make the best adjustments.
  • There can be drama.
  • There may be a fee to join the group.

Other Things to Know

  • Writer groups usually work well for about 5 years after you’ve first started writing, after which business and success pulls members away, and you’ve probably improved to the point that you don’t need a writer’s group anymore. You may be able to replace the group with beta readers and good content editors.
  • When you receive negative criticism, don’t feel down or give up. Everyone has room to improve. Use the criticism to become a better writer.
  • Writing groups should give you a good mix of criticism and encouragement. If you join a group that is leaning more heavily to one or the other, it is time to either have a serious discussion with your group on how to give good feedback, or find a different group.

Can you think of any additional pros and cons of writing groups? Let us know in the comments below!

If you’d like to learn more about Book Cave promotions and receive more writing tips, please enter your email below and click the “Learn More” button to receive our author newsletter.

Copyright 2019 by Book Cave
Reuse notice: Non-commercial users, feel free to print out “Pros and Cons of Writing Groups” for personal use or give to friends, share online, or make a meme of, as long as you attribute and link back to this post. Commercial users, you may share a link to this post or quote a short excerpt from it with attribution and a link to this site, but you may not use this post in its entirety. Thank you for caring about copyright.

Share this authorpost

Keep Reading

marketing ideas

7 Marketing Ideas to Get You a Little More Notice

Check out this list of marketing ideas that don’t take a lot of effort but may be things you’ve never tried.

words to avoid

17 Weak Words to Avoid in Your Writing

Want to make your writing a little stronger? Check out these 17 words to avoid or to edit out of your writing during revision stages.

Capitalize Mom and Dad

When to Capitalize “Mom” and “Dad”

Knowing when to capitalize “mom” and “dad” can be confusing. Here are some easy tips to get it right!

Hello fellow book lover! We hope you are enjoying this post.
If you want free, content-rated ebooks that you can download straight from your favorite retailer, just sign up for our free newsletter
Sign me up!

Leave a Reply

Cancel


Comments

    Receive free ebooks on Amazon Kindle from Book Cave
    Receive free ebooks on Apple Books from Book Cave
    Receive free ebooks on Google Play from Book Cave
    Receive free ebooks on Kobo from Book Cave
    Receive free ebooks on Nook from Book Cave
    Receive free ebooks on Smashwords from Book Cave
    Book Cave
    Book Cave Direct
    My Book Ratings
    MY BOOK RATINGS
    Connecting the RIGHT readers with the RIGHT books
    • Sitemap
    • Contact Us
    • Free ebooks
    © Book Cave - All the rights reserved!