I was watching an Amy Schumer’s show. It was funny. I was laughing all the way through. At the end I thought about how I will tell other people about it. Am I going to tell that she is a brilliant comedian, her show is excellent, and you should see it? No.
I would tell people she made me laugh. She created genuine emotions for me to feel and enjoy.
When somebody reads your book and tells you it’s great, excellent or some other similar stuff, you know your book is shit. If that person is your friend or a family member, start rewrite at once. If they tell you’re the second Stephen King, Hugh Howey or Ernest Hemingway, quit. Paint or learn to play an instrument.
But when somebody tells you: it made me laugh, it made me cry; it made me think about my life choices, or even your book made me feel like shit. You know you got a winner.
When the reader feels something reading your book and is burned by the desire to share that feeling with you and others, in that moment you know you wrote a real book.