Every author faces a stark choice: do I discover my book’s shortcomings before publication and correct them, or from reader reviews when it’s too late?

If asked, few would propose the latter — whether launching a book or any other new product — yet it’s remarkably common because many people have never learned this vital life lesson: there’s a difference between someone criticizing your work and them criticizing you.

If each time someone points out a flaw, blemish or weakness in our work we take it personally; valuable opportunities to improve are misconstrued as assaults on our character that we’d rather avoid. Unable to separate our ego from our output, we dodge or deflect critical feedback.

Unfortunately though, the quality of any product or service is not so much determined by the brilliance of the creators, but by the quality of the criticism and scrutiny it’s subjected to. So if you truly want to succeed you must jump into the fire. Seek out prospective customers and experts who are hard to please and can view your work objectively. Gather their raw feedback. Learn to thrive on well-intentioned criticism.

It may hurt at first — your ego will bruise like a peach — but the pain soon becomes a pleasure when you realize just how much better the end result is.

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