Wanted – Beta-Readers who aren't Afraid to tell me it’s Shit

Depending on how long the finished product turns out to be, I’m somewhere between 15-20% of the way through writing Book 2 of the Tutelam Venit series and I’m going to do something I’ve never done before. I’m putting a call out for a couple of beta-readers to help me with the development of the book.

I’ve already got a couple of good friends who read for me and who I trust. They have been, and still are, brilliant. They are sounding boards for me to bounce ideas off and generally pretty damn good at telling me what I want to hear. They know me, I know them. It’s a good working relationship and a good friendship.

But what I’m after this time around is a couple of people who don’t know me as well, but who aren’t afraid to tell me what they think without holding back. I’m looking for someone who will not have been a sounding board and so won’t know where the story is going. What I want from them isn’t a free editing service. The book is still in a first draft form with line-editing a long way off. Instead I want genuine reader reactions to the plot and the characters. I want real opinions, even if those opinions might be difficult to hear. That way, I’ll be able to look at things while I’m writing, make changes as I think they are needed, and craft a better story.

I can’t afford to pay you, but I will throw in copies of any of my books you haven’t already bought and hey, you get to read the new book way before anyone else – that has to be worth something, right?

Obviously, it would help if anyone who’s interested in doing this has read the first book, so if you are interested and haven’t read book 1, I can let you have a copy to bring you up to speed. Once you’re ready, I’ll e-mail you each chapter as it’s completed and then, hopefully, have an informed and informative discussion with you about its contents. This won’t be a quick process, I’ve written seven chapters so far, and my last few books have been up around the 50+ chapter mark.

If you’re interested in beta-reading for me, then drop me a message at marc@marcnobbs.com and I’ll get back to you to discuss it.