Interested in beta-reading for me?
Okay, so I'm going to try building a beta reader team. This will be experimental, so we'll have to see how it goes.
What is a beta reader?
A beta reader gets to read the book as it's being written. For me, that will mean after the second draft but before edits. As a beta reader, you'll get a chapter or possibly several chapters at a time along with a link to a survey (including an open section to offer random feedback/thoughts). Once you've filled out the survey, you'll get the next portion.
Is it the same as an ARC team (Advanced Review Copy)?
No. An ARC is a complete version of the book, possibly before final edits/proofreading, which is sent to readers so they can read the book and provide advance reviews and/or reviews on release day. Beta readers don't get the final version, they get the in-progress version. This means the author (me) will likely make significant changes to the book based on the feedback provided by betas.
Will everyone who's interested get on the team?
No. I'm only looking for a handful of beta readers at this time. For one thing, having too many beta readers is a "too many cooks in the kitchen" situation. For another, some people have a gift for beta reading (if you look at your reviews and notice you frequently write more than one paragraph, this is probably you). Some have the desire, but not the follow through (if your reviews are one sentence or less, this might be you). A good beta reader has the desire/follow through to explain what they liked and what they didn't. Saying "this chapter sucked" is less helpful than saying "I felt like nothing significant really happened in this chapter, the characters were just sort of talking and it was sort of boring."
What if I don't make it onto the team?
I plan to choose new beta readers for each book. If someone demonstrates a particular passion-skill combo for beta reading, I may invite them to beta the next book as well for as long as they want to do it.
Who shouldn't apply to be a beta reader?
Very busy people. I'm trying really hard to publish reliably, and since life has a habit of blind-siding me, I'm often on a tight schedule. When I send chapters out, I'll need to get feedback fairly quickly, so if you need more than a week to read a few chapters and provide detailed feedback, this might not be for you.
If I haven't scared you off, give me your email address on this form and I'll contact you as soon as I have something for you to read! (Probably not until January).
