Guys, it’s almost time.
I’ve officially completed my last round of serious edits on my manuscript, DEFINITELY, MAYBE and it’s nearly time to send it out into the world.
Whew. This book. This book was a labor of…something, ha ha, and I’m not sure it was love.
The story has survived possibly being stolen and turned into a movie, it survived me changing tenses and rewriting the entire manuscript, and then changes tenses again and starting over once more, and it has survived a disc herniation injury where I couldn’t write for 6 months.
This book nearly wasn’t born.
But, with a lot of patience and perseverance (and basically bullying myself to not give up), it is nearly ready to be published.
I still have some small plot holes to fix and then I’ll be ready to send it off to the beta readers.
Wait. What’s a beta reader? How do you become one?
Anyone can be a beta reader. You do not need any qualifications other than you like to read, although being able to spot grammar and punctuation errors is a bonus. You can be any age, any sex. You just need to know which genres you like to read (and, conversely, which you don’t).
Beta readers are basically a book’s first readers. They read the unedited manuscript of a new novel before it is published, and provide feedback to the author. It’s actually way cool and super neato.
Interested in becoming my beta reader?
Here’s what it would entail:
As soon as the manuscript is ready I will send out a digital copy, also called an advance reader copy (ARC), to my beta readers. In order to be a reader you will need to have access to a computer or a tablet or a phone; something you can download a book to.
Then you read the book within the time frame provided — usually one to two weeks.
While you read you will make notes about the story, check for spelling and punctuation, and answer 1 – 3 small questionnaires. The questionnaires will be a Google form and can be submitted back to me digitally.
When you complete the story and submit the final questionnaire, you will have the opportunity to decide if you would like your name added to the author’s notes and acknowledgments at the end of the book, as a thank you for helping to bring the story to life. Not all beta readers choose to have their names mentioned, so please don’t feel like it’s a requirement.
When the book is ready for publication you will help the story find new readers by leaving an honest online review (usually on Amazon, Goodreads, Barnes and Noble and/or iBooks). Psst: bonus points if you post about the book on your social media.
There are pros and cons to beta reading, and if you want to consider doing this for me, I’d like to make you as prepared as possible. Here are a few off the top of my head.
PROS
- You will be one of the first people to read a new, unpublished manuscript from an author
- Your feedback will help shape the final revisions and content of the story.
- Your name could be mentioned in the final, published copy of the book.
- You will receive the manuscript for free.
- You will automatically be entered into the private Facebook group associated with the manuscript so you can leave comments, view and add inspirational photos about the story, and discuss the book with other beta readers.
CONS
- You will need to commit to reading the book within a given time frame, usually 1 to 2 weeks, and will need to be prepared to answer a few questions about the book.
- You need to be comfortable being honest about your thoughts. Beta readers help make the story better; sometimes this means being critical.
- You will receive an unedited, rough draft of a manuscript. It will not be formatted for publication so it may look different than published books.
- You will be asked to commit to leaving an honest review of the story once the book is published.
Hopefully this helps outline what you can expect if you sign up to be a beta reader. All in all, it is a very fun experience for both the reader and the author, and many new friendships are born from this process.
If you would like to join my beta reading team, please either reply to this post or email me at info@megancarrauthor and use the subject line BETA READER.
Please note this is a 77k word, stand alone, slightly steamy romance novel that includes language and fairly descriptive scenes (basically, the good stuff :)).
Okay, so thank you in advance. I know we will have a lot of fun working together and I’m really excited to begin!
xoxo ~ Megan