This is something I should have done, and planned to do, years ago. Because if you're going to procrastinate, procrastinate like a boss! Eventually.
I'm looking for beta readers for my unpublished novels. Now, many of your know what this means, but since I've never been completely clear on it myself, here's my definition:
An alpha reader is that first person (or people) who go over an author's work. For me that's my wife, who's a talented editor and also doesn't put up with my crap. A beta reader is reading not as an editor, but as a reader--for fun, which is good, because they don't get paid. (Neither does my alpha reader, although I do bribe her from time to time.)
The beta reader is just looking at the big picture: What works for them, what doesn't, what's confusing, why a cat is mentioned in chapter one but never appears again. That last one actually happened to me. Their reward is getting to read a new book before almost anyone else does, without paying for it. Or possibly, depending on how much the author has his crap together, it's their punishment.
Believe it or not, in addition to my eleven published works I have four "finished" manuscripts being shipped around to editors or agents, two more in the final stages, and another that's going to be finished up this fall (I hope). It's the four done ones that I'd like to get fresh eyes on, so if anyone would like to volunteer to read one, I'd be extremely grateful. They include:
Summer Jobs Are Murder, a young adult mystery:
Cassidy Quinn’s summer vacation wasn’t supposed to include witnessing
a murder—or being the main suspect. Now she and her oddball family have
to find out where her best friend has disappeared to, why the dead man
looks just like her friend’s father, and how she can afford to buy a car
on minimum page. Oh, and who’s stalking her.
Beowulf: In Harm's Way, a science fiction space opera:
Paul Gage and Sachiko Endo almost single-handedly won the first
battle of an interstellar conflict--but no one seems to know how they did it.
To protect their war heroes, the Space Fleet sends them far from action, with a
tiny, untested patrol ship and a green crew. As long as they can keep the
engines running everything should be fine, but Gage is
convinced the Beowulf is headed for
trouble. By the time they finish dealing with an invisible spy vessel, an invading
ship full of children, and a psychiatrist with her own agenda, the crew starts to
believe him … and that’s before an enemy fleet shows up where it can’t be.
We Love Trouble, a humorous mystery with supernatural elements:
Wulfgar the dog sees ghosts—but never the ones he wants to
see, like murder victims who could identify their killers. That's a problem
when his humans find a dead man and an injured teen in an Indiana State Park.
Nothing is ever an accident for Travis and Victoria Noble, who are so often
suspects themselves they have bond money on speed dial--soon they're surrounded
by bodies, suspects, horses, and the odd conspiracy or two. It's all Wulfgar
can do to keep his adventure-loving humans out of jail themselves … or worse,
he could soon be seeing their ghosts, too.
The Source Emerald, a modern fantasy (apparently this kind are described as "low fantasy"):
Rookie FBI Agent Lilly McCray’s first assignment is easy:
Follow up on the sudden appearance of valuable emeralds across the
country. The odd part is that the gems keep popping up in locations
related to L. Frank Baum, author of The Wizard of Oz.
Lilly
doesn’t give that coincidence much thought, until she confronts a little
blonde girl who might be a smuggling ringleader—but who claims to be
Dorothy Gale, Princess of Oz. Before Lilly knows it inanimate objects
talk, people disappear into thin air, and she and Dorothy must go on the
run from evil magics that threaten to tear two worlds apart … and it’s
not a dream.
So, if anyone's interested in reviewing a new novel, let me know, and I'll e-mail the manuscript to you. All I ask for is an honest opinion, no line editing necessary, although I certainly appreciate being told when I mispell mispell.
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Have a read and a drink.
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