McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft

Beta Readers for Novel-length work

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Kali:
I'm only partway through the rewrite of the major things I knew at the outset needed fixing.  The rewrite won't be done anytime in the next couple of week or so, miracles aside.  But I'd like to line up a couple of people now to read through this thing.

The original was just over 50k words, about 115 pages in MS Word.  This version will be longer; though I'm not writing first for length, I do want to end somewhere over 80k.  Fortunately for me, there are several scenes that need to be added.  Sadly, there's one that needs to be taken out in its entirety since it's just bloody awful.

I do want people who can check my spelling and grammar.  I'm good at both, so you'll have to be better.

I'll also want general opinions on the characters and the flow of the storyline.  "I liked it!" will get you shot in the head.  I want a real critique; what worked for you, what didn't.  You should be able to tell me why you liked what you did and why you didn't like what you didn't.

Sorry if this comes across as too blunt, but I really want beta readers who can help me polish this thing for an agent's review.  Oh, you'll also have to be pretty quick with the turnaround because I'll want to keep up my momentum.  It's possible, if it'd be easier on everyone, that I could send it to you in pieces so you'll be reading the first fifty pages while I'm working on the final fifty and the stuff in the middle is waiting to be sent.  I'm honestly not sure how most authors handle the beta process.

meh:

If you're looking for readers sometime mid-April, you might run into a bit of competition, from Jim and the IRS both.  :)

hagarrus:
What kind of book are you writing?
Is it just for fun or are you looking to publish?
You mention quick turn around, are you talking days or weeks?

Kali:
Well, mid-April I'll be busy reading myself. :D  I honestly don't know how long it's going to take me to finish this rewrite so even mid-April might be optimistic.

It's an urban fantasy novel (with NO romantic sub-plot).  I'm looking to send it to an agent for possible publishing, depending on how the rewrite goes.  God knows this version isn't worth publishing, but there's some good stuff to unearth.  The bones are there, it just remains to see how much of a story I can build with what I've already got.

The turn-around, I'm not sure about.  I know I don't want to sit here on my hands doing nothing for weeks on end; that's just a handy-dandy prescription for death, right there.  That's why I'm thinking I might send it out in bits and pieces, so I have stuff to work on while the readers are reading and commenting. 

Mickey Finn:
Let me know if no one bites. I'm resisiting because I don't want to cross blend anything into mine by mistake.

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