WEbook’s New Feedback Feature Gets the Green Light…Literally

Ah, the joys of being a writer. You sit alone in your room, pouring your heart and soul onto the page, dreaming of the day when thousands—nay, millions!—of people will read your words. You agonize over images, cultivate your characters, plod away at plot…and, of course, practice your Nobel Prize acceptance speech in the mirror.

Along comes WEbook. At last! A chance to connect with fellow readers and writers, to hone your craft, to get in-depth, brutally honest feedback about what’s working and what needs work! You hit “Submit for Feedback,” and lo and behold! Your inbox flashes with a WEbook “feedback” alert.

Did someone say, “In-depth?” Did someone say, “Brutally honest?” ... WE sure hope so.

It’s awfully fun to hear a reader say, “Awesome! Loved it! The best thing since sliced Shakespeare!” It’s no fun at all to hear, “Boo, hiss! My dog writes better than you!” But the truth is, feedback that offers nothing but praise or criticism is no feedback at all. Here at WEbook, we’re all about helping each other improve our writing—and it’s going to take a lot more than a pat on the back or a swift kick to the rear to make that happen. With that in mind, WE are pleased to announce two new features designed to encourage serious, in-depth, high-quality, brutally honest feedback.

First, our new, larger feedback window now includes a nifty progress bar. Watch in awe as the orange bar tracks the word count of your review. If you want to give someone a quick, gut reaction to their work, leave a “comment”—anything between one word (“Groovalicious!”) and 149 words. When you reach 150 words, the bar glows green like a light saber. Congratulations! You have officially left a piece of WEbook-sanctioned, honest-to-goodness “feedback.” Sure, you could make the bar turn green by typing, “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog” 16.6666667 times, but most honest WEbookers won’t get there without offering at least a few good, concrete observations or suggestions. Want to really go the distance? Keep typing. When you get into 250+ word territory, you have entered the hallowed realm of the “critique.” Critiques are like diamonds: multi-faceted, crystal-clear, harder-than-nails, rare, and valuable. Your reviewee will appreciate your effort; WEbook will notice it as well.
 
The second improvement to WEbook’s feedback process is a blue link underneath each review, with the words: “Was this feedback helpful? Leave a compliment.”  When you receive a comment, feedback, or critique, take a moment to think about whether the review is truly brilliant, enlightening, in-depth, motivating, helpful, or unique. If so, click on through to the feedback compliment buttons and give the review its props. If not, simply move on to the next piece of feedback.

Both new features are part of our effort to make WEbook the best place on the web for writers to give and receive quality feedback. So get out there and give some feedback. Who knows? Maybe you’ll get a shout-out in a Nobel Prize acceptance speech one day.