I am looking for interested Avid Readers of Science Fiction to read the rough draft unedited versions of my future novels before the editing and rewrite stages to offer a mechanical and emotional critique of the work! Not to edit it!
In order to better our writing and hone our skills it is imperative to get feedback from real live people who read books! As Self-publishing is becoming more predominate and the old guard of the literary agents and publishing readers and editors are being bypassed, it is falling to the self-published author to provide the best books they can without professional help to hone their skills.
When I finished my first novel I fully expected people to ask about the time travel aspect of the ship, or the being able to cloak a ship by sliding it a few seconds out of sync with our regular linear time. What did I get the most questions about?
Where did the idea for Lisa come from? Why add the romantic element to an adventure novel? Since this is Wiley's last mission, will we see any more of Wiley and Lisa? Do they get married?
This caught me entirely off guard. One more reason we need people to read our writing.
Tell us what they like.
What they didn't like.
What areas they thought were confusing.
What areas were slow.
What they liked and want more of.
I did a post earlier this year about Beta Readers, and got zero response. I have asked a few people if they would want to Beta read my stuff but they replied that they didn't have time to edit a book. I'm not talking about editing a book. I am talking about reading an UNEDITED piece of work before it's rewritten and edited to provide content, and like or dislike critique of said work.
Think about your favorite book from your favorite author, if you got a chance to read a sloppy version of the rough draft before the rest of the world got a glimpse of the future book, wouldn't you want to take a crack at it. Especially when all you have to do for this advanced sneak peek is get back with the author and tell them what you liked and didn't like, what was cool, what wasn't, how did it make you feel reading it, before they rewrite and edit the book.
We as authors are not looking for editing advice, as that is what we have editors for. We are looking for content and feeling of the book. Was it intriguing? Were your questions answered? Easy to read or difficult? We are looking for more of a mechanical and emotional critique of the work. This will help us become better writers and greatly improve our books as we rewrite them and get them ready for publication.
I am not looking for other writers help!
Obviously I don't want to be sending my rough draft to the next up and coming author, not that they would necessarily steal it, or publish it first, it's just that could be a conflict of interest. I also don't want to send it to someone who can't go to lunch without tweeting about it. I don't what the storyline or plot spoilers being spread around the Internet before the book gets published. What if you read that James Bond got killed in the next book? Or that Harry Potter was killed by Volt-a-mort or whatever his name was. Also realize the author may or may NOT take your suggestions or critique to heart while rewriting the book. Then again he or she may take all your suggestions to heart and the finished product may be a completely rewritten story.
So if you're not an Author, or soon to be published author.
You enjoy reading Science Fiction.
You can read unedited work without having to mail bombs to the writers house because of his or hers lack of English skills, or you can read it without pulling your hair out or grinding your teeth flat because of grammatical errors and spelling mistakes.
You wouldn't mind getting free sneak peek of future books!
You will invest a few minutes and write back to the author with comments, suggestions, what your feelings were, likes and dislikes. Then E-mail me at StorytellerTDW@Yahoo.com with the words BETA READER in the subject line. Then I will get in touch you.
Posted in: Beta Reader Feedback Critique Sneak Peek
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