Beta reading and Review Copies

[Jeremiah]

Hey everyone I am new to the group. Lately I have really gotten into reading and reviewing Indie books on my blog. It has also inspired me to start actually writing my book rather than collecting ideas for it.

Back to the point of this post though...

I have seen so many people recently who read ARCs and review books for authors. I have also heard alot about beta readers. My question to you is how are these people getting these ARCs and how are they becoming beta readers?

[Jeffrey, Lentarian Fire Thrower]

Typically I'm either asked to be a beta reader or I will ask friends I know to read through and give me their honest opinions. No hard feelings, no repercussions, just direct critique on what they've read.

Family members are great, but they tend to be biased. Fellow writers make great bea readers as do bloggers! :)

[Jeffrey, Lentarian Fire Thrower]

As for getting the ARCs or the ebooks, it is typically up to the author to get their book to you, as the beta reader.

Big J

[Jeremiah]

Alright, I thought I was overlooking some obvious sign up sheet that was floating around the internet. lol

So what you are saying is I need to get active in the different writing communities if I am looking to be a beta reader as well as find beta readers, haha seems pretty straight forward.

[Jeffrey, Lentarian Fire Thrower]

Jeremiah, look for the topic in this club that says "Need a review?" and post a short blurb about your book. Add a link sothat prospective reviewers can see it on Amazon, or Smashwords, or even the Goodreads link. Specify what genre it is, how many words, who your target audience is, etc.

Many of our club members, myself included, are always looking for new books to read. I generally will leave reviews unless I just didn't care for the book. Hasn't happened yet, but you never know. :)

Big J

[Jeremiah]

Haha I am a long way away from needing a beta reader. I might need one this time next year though!

[Jeffrey, Lentarian Fire Thrower]

What kind of book? What's it about, if you don't mind me asking?

[Jeremiah]

Well I would consider it to be a sci-fi book. It is a story about a young man that almost gets hit by a car, but somehow stops time. It is a book about his adventure to find his father. My working title is "Father Time's Illegitimate Son". I will gladly tell you more about it if you want, but I would prefer to do it through Private Messages! If fact I would love your advice if you were willing to give it!

[Jeffrey, Lentarian Fire Thrower]

Jeremiah - sure, shoot me a pm and I'll be more than happy to give any advice that I'm capable of giving!

[Edwin]

Ok, folks... here's my plea...
I need people who'll read and pinpoint the small flaws that Cuentosand Eco Station One may have lurking in them!
Folks who have read these books insist on leaving glowing reviews, but it seems everyone's reluctant to fill out a typo report to fix them up!
Now the deal is as follows: PM me here and I'll send back the Smashwords coupon code so you can get a copy. I only ask in return help to pinpoint at least a dozen flaws (no need for an extensive bug report ;P) you may find. And if it pleases, you may also write up a review.

[Jeremiah]

Hey Edwin I sent you a PM, and Jeffery you should be getting your's later tonight. Oh and Jeffery I am reading you first book right now!

[Jeffrey, Lentarian Fire Thrower]

I think there's three Jeffs in here. Jeffery, Jeffrey, and Jeff. I'm Jeffrey, but since there are more of us, I started going by "Big J". :)

You're reading my first book? Very cool! I hope you like it!

[Susanna]

Hi my name is Susan and I have a shared author page on Facebook Message to my Children Fantasy Escapism, I post articles, blogs, tips and fun sometimes to help authors to relax from the pressure of writing sometimes. Come on over and say Hi. What I am trying to find links to beta readers that I can post to direct writers to? Can you help? There is so much interesting and humorous knowledge here at goodreads. Thank you for inviting me to your discussions. Peace Sue

[Susanna]

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Messag... I should give you link, oops. Thanks again Sue

[Jeffrey, Lentarian Fire Thrower]

Hi Susan!

While this club is a place where both authors and readers can interact together, anyone can join the club to become involved in everything we do here. Ask authors questions, authors asking for feedback, marketing tips, we cover quite a bit in here.

Feel free to extend our invitation to anyone that you know to join the club! Unfortunately, we don't advocate putting members directly in contact with others outside of the club for fear of misuse of personal email addresses. Any member here is free to send messages to other members using the Goodreads messaging system. In fact, most authors (including this one!) encourage it! :)

Thanks for the interest!

Big J

[Susanna]

Hi Big J, forgive I should of realized this fact; I am a member here enclosed is my link http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/53... thank you for the response and warm welcome. Emails should stay private, true. I was looking for links only. Well now off to learn more about this wonderful site.

[Jeffrey, Lentarian Fire Thrower]

Hi Susan! No worries! I saw that you were a member, so you're good. It's only when people join this club to try and get our members to join another club is where I have an issue.

That being said, I'm all for inviting any others to join the club. We typically read/review two books a month: one fantasy and another genre chosen by the members. We share marketing tips, writing tips, reviews (good & bad!), etc. We have our Never-Ending Story, a collective writing adventure where different authors take turns writing the next chapter. It's really cool to see all the different writing styles.

Feel free to look around and ask any questions you may have!

Big J

[Edwin]

Hello, it's me again. I'd like to thank Jeremy for the great job he did stomping out some bugs from my books.

Now, I've published another silly book and I'm looking for some beta readers

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/...

However, be warned that it's a superhero parody, and you may need to have a very keen sense of humor to handle it. Please PM if interested and I'll issue a Smashwords coupon so you can download a copy...