Beta Reading

Like a lot of authors, I have a beta reading group – a small group of people to whom I send my work in progress for discussion/feedback.  With the Alex Verus series completed, and a new series in the planning stage, I’m opening the group up to applications for a little while, starting today.

If you’ve ever done beta reading/feedback, you’ll have some idea of what it involves.  If you haven’t, one warning that I should probably put out in advance:  beta reading is actually work!  It doesn’t take a huge amount of hours in any given year, but it does require a fair amount of attention and effort while you’re doing it.  As for what you get in exchange . . . well, you get the satisfaction of being a part of a book’s creation process and knowing that your actions have made that book very slightly better.  For a certain type of person, that’s enough, but do take a moment to have a think about whether you ARE that sort of person before you apply.  

Another note:  the Alex Verus series is finished, and Book #12, Risen, is past the beta reading stage and has been sent off to my publishers.  This means that becoming a beta reader won’t get you early access to the next Alex Verus novel, because there are no more Alex Verus novels.  My main project over the next few years is going to be the new urban fantasy series I’m working on at the moment.  If you liked Alex Verus, I think there’s a good chance that you’ll like the new series too, but it’s not a guarantee.  

So if you’ve read this far and all that hasn’t put you off, go ahead and apply!  Write me an email at my Contact page here, put “Beta Reading” in the subject line, and include the following in your message:

Your nameA little about yourself – your background, personal and professional life, interests, favourite books and genres, etc.How you found this blog post, and the Alex Verus books in general

I’ll try to respond to all the applications that are sent in, but I can’t guarantee that I’ll manage it, particularly since I have no idea how many I’m going to get.  In any case, it may take a while, so please be patient!