Reply #3: I have mixed experiences too.

[sybylla]

I've not paid for any professional editorial services yet, but I've had professionals give me some advice on manuscripts through workshops, conferences and contests. It's amazing how the opinions from numerous professional writers, agents and editors who all read the same piece, fall occasionally to diametrically opposed, outright contradictory critiques. Try figuring out which are the useful bits in that scenario. I was never more disappointed in my entire writing life.

Some are very good at giving advice and delivering helpful criticism. Some not so much. This three page critique sounds more like a whine than helpful advice. I agree with you. I've read a lot of romances that you would never know by the first three pages were romances if it hadn't been all over the cover first. Same with romantic comedies, mysteries, thrillers, etc.

What does not knowing what the story was about mean? Was this editor talking about category (literary fiction, mystery, romance, etc.) or the story itself (as in they wanted more detail or back story or some clear statement of the story problem or some clarification of other elements)? Clearly, if they provided no more detail and aren't available to take a question or two on their comments, they just wasted your time and money.

I don't think it's in the least arrogant to discard advice that doesn't seem complete, well thought out, or appropriate to the story. It would be like getting some unknown fruit or vegie from a friend (or a food coop) and having no idea how to prepare it and no way to figure it out without some more specific information. You might as well throw it away.

On the other hand, my goal is to always find some useful nugget in the worst advice/critique. Look at the subtext of the incomplete advice (or in my case the weird-ass, left-field, diametrically opposite critique). Beneath the red ink, there might be something else there. For example, is there something about your story that this odd criticism may be a symptom of? Did you inadvertently misdirect this reader somewhere, resulting in confusion about your story? Obviously in three pages it would be hard for that person to tell. But you might, or another reader/professional might be able to detect the cause or at least be assured misdirection is not it.