Author testimonials for Matthew Arkin, Lead Story Editor
Do the work. Use his feedback. Your ideas will improve. Your stuff will improve. Your life will improve. He’s respected, tough, and smart.
– Chapman University student
After laboring over a manuscript for months, it is hard to be objective about what one has written. That’s why Matthew Arkin’s critique was so helpful. He was able to bring an objective perspective to what I had written, a perspective that was both encouraging and more than fair. He pointed out passages that needed further elaboration, uses of excessive jargon, and examples of inconsistency in my point of view that all needed to be tightened. Rather than being prescriptive, he raised questions, challenged my thinking and helped me to refine what I was trying to achieve in writing this book. The manuscript is much better now than it was before as I incorporated perhaps 80-90% of his suggestions making changes that have both sharpened and deepened what I had originally written.
– Scott Holley, author of Becoming the Teacher You Wish You’d Had
After a very long day, I finally had the chance to read Matt’s critique. I almost cried at the beginning when he wrote the whole premise of the book. I shouted, “He gets it.” There were many parts of the critique where he was very detailed in his thoughts about each part of the manuscript. I like that nothing was confusing for me, and I understand his point of view. There were a lot of points that were dead on about the book having problems. Seeing all the problems on paper made me realize I really missed some loose ends and I have a lot of work to do. I have a few things to clarify with him, but I loved every bit of the critique and felt that this was exactly what I needed. I will need to re-read a lot of parts of it just so that I don’t miss anything. Overall, I am so grateful to you both. I can’t wait to start writing.
– Jessica Wilson
Matthew and I spent the better part of an hour discussing my questions, and he provided other useful information on how to make the book better. I thought all of his feedback both on the call and in all the documents was very valid and I did greatly appreciate his time and feedback. I could tell he spent plenty of time reviewing the manuscript and pointed out some things that I hadn’t thought of or needed to be done better. I think I wrote a good story that just needs a lot more research and then I’ll hopefully have a great book to send out into the world.
Overall, the entire process of contacting you, working with you and Matthew, and the call has been fantastic. I’m thrilled I was able to actually speak to someone in person about the documents I received as opposed to just reading through things, as I was able to gain more insight as to what really worked and didn’t work and what I need to focus on in my rewrite. Great experience working with you both, and I hope to work with one or both of you again as I continue on my journey as a writer.
– Brooke Davis, author of Adventures of an Urban Homesteader
My conversation with Matthew was fantastic. We seem to be on the same wavelength, understand each other well, and respect each other’s ideas and approaches. He was thoroughly familiar with the materials I’d sent him, made great (and reasoned) suggestions, asked the right questions, and was as good a listener as a talker…Matthew is an excellent choice for me.
– Robin Orsini
THANK YOU for your critique. I know my script was a mess. First attempt, just literally sat down and typed. My goal is to now really work on it and have it polished by July 2020 to submit to the competition. I love the feedback and I’m looking forward to speaking with you.
– E.S.