Nowadays, you can go from "I've got a great idea" to "PUBLISHED" without involving anyone besides yourself. You can do your own editing and proofreading, formatting, cover design, and blurb writing (I'm not saying you should, but it can be done). Now, we've talked about the need for good cover design, and we discussed what … Continue reading Why Your Book Needs Beta Readers
Tag: Beta Readers
All writers need readers--otherwise, there would be no point in getting things published--but writers who strive to write well need more. Just any reader won't do. We need readers who get invested in our characters, who are willing to point out faults, who take the time to notice when we spell things wrong or use … Continue reading Why Writers Need Critical Readers
If you ever wanted a free critique to a beginning of one of your stories--if something is nagging you and you want a second pair of eyes, or if you just wanted to flex your writing muscles and help out another writer--then you'll be happy to know that the Under the Microscope feature on A … Continue reading Under the Microscope is Back at A Writer’s Path
Yesterday, I posted about how Star Wars was originally, unapologetically, written and edited to please its author, George Lucas. Which raised an interesting question. Who are authors supposed to write for? Are we to please ourselves or write for our audience, taking other people's advice into consideration? One of my favorite examples of "writing for … Continue reading Who Do You Write For?
I recently had the opportunity to beta read A. D. Martin’s manuscript for Remnant of Us. It is a YA novel set in the future, long after the United States has been dissolved, and focuses on a teenager whose visions allow her to predict the future (the full blurb for the story is here). It … Continue reading Beta-Reading as a Writer
I know why I do this to myself. There's nothing like comments, complimentary or otherwise, from real readers. Readers who have never seen the work, who are coming to it with fresh eyes and giving me their honest responses. It's why I like Ryan Lanz's Under the Microscope feature so much, and this week, it's … Continue reading Another Round of Critique
An Alpha or Beta Reader is one who comes on-board the novel writing process to be a test reader, and usually, helps make the book better by seeing what you didn’t or couldn’t see yourself. Alphas read very early drafts, while Betas read the close-to-but-not-quite-finished work, so most writers go after Beta Readers: after all, … Continue reading The Alpha Traits of Beta Readers
Andrea Lundgren 