Handling personal criticism by Seth Godin
Image via Wikipedia Heartfelt criticism of your idea or your art is usually right (except when it isn't...) Check out this letter from the publisher of a magazine you've never heard of to the founder of a little magazine called Readers Digest : But, personally, I don't see how you will be able to get enough subscribers to support it. It is expensive for its size. It isn't illustrated... I have my doubts about the undertaking as a publishing venture. Of course, he was right--given his assumptions. And that's the except part. Criticism of your idea is usually based on assumptions about the world as it is. Jackson Pollock could never have made it as an painter in the world as it was. And Harry Potter was rejected by just about everyone because for it to succeed the way kids read would have to change. The useful element of this sort of criticism isn't that the fact that people in the status quo don't like your idea. Of course they don't. The int...