Getting feedback from a workshop group or beta reader can be a great way to refine and polish your writing in preparation for submitting stories or poems to publishers.

Journals that have a feedback option, on the other hand, offer you a different kind of insight. It’s a way to hear straight from editors who choose the work for journals, anthologies, and other publications. At minimum, they’ll give you some insights about why they rejected the piece, and usually they’ll offer some other tips about areas you can improve, to increase your odds of getting an acceptance the next time you send it out.

I’m a big fan of workshopping, and I’ve talked a few times in the past about how important it is for writers (especially fairly young or new writers) to get outside eyes and opinions on their work. I also find the other side of that equation—providing creative feedback to other people—to be a valuable exercise, giving you a chance to identify what you find works and doesn’t in other people’s writing so you can apply those lessons to your own writing.

That said, I also know that both giving and receiving creative feedback can be an intimidating prospect for those who haven’t done so before. So I thought it would be helpful to share some tips, based on my 10+ years of participating in workshop groups.