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I am always curious about this. Would I have the courage to send one of my favorite authors a copy of one of my books? How would they react? What if they hated it? Would I judge my success on their review? Sometimes I am scared their reputation might be ruined in my head by how they reviewed it. Although, I may be focusing too much on hypotheticals ha-ha.

Definitely! I'd love her input!

Glib, obvious response: only if they liked it.

While, I would love my favorite author's input I would be terrified that they would hate it. I would of course love for them to critique my book and tell me how to make it better so that some day I may get it published.

No it would be awful if they said they didn't like it

If I was looking for constructive criticism, then yes. If I was looking for a guaranteed "this is amazing".... Not so much.

I don't think I could do it at least I couldn't give it to them to read.
Now if I published a book and they happened to across it that would be okay but I would hope they would give it a good review.

Um. It depends on which favorite author. In most cases, I'd say, 'no'. Because I know I can do better and longer stories, in different genres, and I'm just getting started as a professional author. The books I've written now are like desserts for people who love dark chocolate and port wine, metaphorically speaking.

One of my favorite authors has recently offered to read, review and help edit a book I'm working on. I'm excited that she asked, but I'm nervous that she may not like it. However, I'm also telling myself that even if she doesn't like it, it's one opinion and that doesn't mean others won't appreciate the plot, characters and writing style. It definitely won't stop me from continuing on and pursuing a literary agent.

Yes I would regard their opinion highly and welcome their constructive feedback. And positive comments I get will just blow my mind!

Hmmm... This is a tough choice... On the one hand, I think it's be awesome for my favorite author to read something I wrote. On the other, I'd be completely mortified if they read it and it wasn't good!!

That's actually very two sided. On one hand I aspire to be as great as my favorites. They inspire me to be the best that I can. But at the same time, if I knew one (or all) of them would be reading my work, there would be an insane amount of pressure. I wouldn't be able to handle it. I wouldn't want to disappoint them. But at the same time their criticism would be crucial to my future success. That's something that I'm just not currently read for, I suppose.

Actually that's happened to me. As a mystery fan I began a friendly email correspondence with a fairly famous mystery author. Later, when I wrote my 1st novel, he kindly offered to review it and provide a cover "blurb" for me. He was very generous and his commentary was quite favorable.

I've given excerpts of my writing to other well known authors (after of course they've agreed to read the stuff) and most of the feedback has been positive.

So if you do have the opportunity, I'd definitely say to others, sure! Just hone your craft first and provide the very best you have to offer. If you do receive negative comments, then, try to take them constructively.

If I did, he would probably suggest adding an evil clown or a possessed car or something

If I could have Ken Follett read any of my stories, I think I would, first, have a heart attack, and, second, listening intently for his feedback.