Interested in Early Access?

In my opinion, finding the right early readers is vitally important to improving my craft, growing my skills, and honing in on my strengths. I am building three different groups of early readers as outlined below:

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Alpha Readers

The first line of defense in many of my projects are the alpha readers. These are the brave souls I ask to read the very earliest drafts in the form outlines. Historically, Alpha slots are reserved for critical thinkers who I already know personally. These people get the whole story, spoilers and all, with minimal fluff. The goal is to find and discuss the largest plot holes and pacing problems at a macro level to minimize slowdowns in the first draft.

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Beta Readers

Skip forward several months. The story is fully drafted, and I have done several rounds of self edits to polish, but I have not yet given it to professional editors. Beta Readers come in first. These are readers who love the genre and provide unbiased opinions on what does and doesn't work about the story. Which characters and plotlines feel successful. Which do not? What doesn't make sense? How is the pacing? Betas are my preview of what the target audience might think of the work, given early so I still have time to make big changes.

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ARC Readers

After the story has been written and rewritten, read and reread, edited and edited again, it's time to search for people to share "Advanced Reader Copies" with. ARC Readers receive a copy of the completed book. All changes have been made, the cover is set, the publication date is fast approaching. The ARC team is not concerned with giving the author feedback on the story. ARC Readers are given a free copy of the book; in exchange they are asked to publicly rate and review the work so that potential buyers may decide whether or not the book is a good fit for them. Reviews are typically hosted on Amazon or GoodReads and help tremendously with engagement. 

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Please note that none of these are paid positions. It's very expensive to hire multiple professional editors, to pay professional cover artists and formatters, to spend all the time and buy all the business-things necessary to produce a quality work of fiction. For my process, early readers exist in a trade economy. Alpha and Beta Readers trade time and feedback for a bit of entertainment and a chance to make alterations to an upcoming piece of fiction. ARC Readers are given the polished product in exchange for honest promotional reviews. 

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If any of the above options intrigue you, I'd love to connect and see if we're a good fit!