by Jim
Hey Jim,
I swear I don’t stalk your blog. It is just refreshing to see a familiar face everyday. (Someone that posts consistently)
Maybe you have done a segment on this..
What is your take on Beta readers? How do you find a Beta reader that A. will actually suffer through a horribly rough draft B. Wont steal your shit and C. Will provide useful and honest feedback on your writing style, story line, and character development?
BTW. I am not a metal fan by any means. Nor a country fan. Like I said before, I find vocals to be extremely distracting. I stick with classical relaxation music in the background and currently would appreciate a good “muse” in the form of music but have yet to find that medium. I can, however, appreciate your insight on the subject. Thank you for sharing your playlist.
Cheers.
Hi Dacia,
Haven’t seen you comment on my posts in a while. Was starting to wonder what happened. Hmm… looks like we’ve got a multi-question one today… all right. Let’s take it one at a time.
First off, stalk away. I don’t mind frequent visitors, it helps my blog more than anything!
So beta readers… it’s tough. It’s really tough. First thing I would do when looking for a beta reader is document every exchange you have back and forth with someone if you don’t know them. Goodreads usually has some pretty trustworthy beta reading circles, but you still need to be careful. I tried to go through their a while back and honestly, got a bull assessment of my first chapter from someone who claimed to be a ‘speed reader.’ They wanted money to review the rest… and not a small amount either.
Look into the person you’re considering working with. Do they have other publications with reviews? What is their level of education? Are they an active member of whatever community you’re searching through? Don’t be afraid to ask questions and turn down offers if something doesn’t seem right.
The second thing you can do is try to forge a relationship on here with someone. That’s pretty much how I did it. I’d also recommend finding more than one person, two sets of eyes, one biased (yours), one not (a beta), are still likely to miss a few things. Multiple beta readers however will help you out a lot. So… I guess I’m volunteering if you’d be interested in doing an exchange?
That’s usually the best way to do it. An exchange with another author anxious to find someone who’s willing to sift through their work as well. Otherwise you’ll likely shell out $100-$300 for a college student to do the work… which is fine, they really do a great job, but when you’re spending $300 (min.) for a cover, $100 a piece for each ISBN needed, and $35 for the copyright fee, it adds up fast.
One piece of advice I’d give you before reaching out to people you don’t know is to REGISTER YOUR WORK! That’s right, get it copyrighted. It’s technically already copyrighted the moment you put pen to paper, but registering it guarantees that you’ll be protected and able to furnish proof against another writer who hijacks your book.
Finally, inspirational pieces with no vocals… that is a tough one.
I’m afraid I don’t work with much in the way of instrumental music, but I do have a few selections…
Since you mentioned classical, might I recommend checking into music from the Baroque era? I tend to like that a lot more with my writing. I don’t have any real selections for you as I wouldn’t be able to identify them. I usually just switch on baroque stations on spotify.
Anyway, hope this helps!
Readers,
Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.
jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com
I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.
I have been writing for several years, have 4 published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.
Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.
Also, feel free to check out my works of Fantasy and Historical Fiction, Available on Amazon and where ever books are sold. See the link below:
http://www.amazon.com/James-Harrington/e/B00P7FBXTU
Thanks friends!
Catch you on the flip side!
-Jim
James Harringtons Creative Work 
It may have been just a bad day (…week) but lately I’ve had bad luck with beta readers at goodreads. The few takers I had were those looking to build editing services and wanted testimonials. A legit way to drum up experience and business, I suppose. Just the same, it was disappointing and not worth the time.
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