“Oh, you’re writing a book? You have to let me read it when you’re done!” If you’ve been writing long enough, you’ll probably have heard this a time or two. Little do they know that a book needs beta readers. But what is a beta reader and how can you shamelessly leverage their time and good will into making your manuscript the best it can be?

Because I am an engineer as well as a writer, I’m going to use the laziest possible analog for the technological age. A beta reader is exactly like a video game beta tester. They are the people that take your playable (readable) video game (manuscript) and play (read) through it, looking for bugs (terrible parts) so that you can fix them before they get seen by the general public/publishing industry. Now, one quick point of clarification: when I say “readable” I mean that the draft of your manuscript is complete with no missing parts that you haven’t gotten around to writing yet. A beta reader should be reading your best attempt at a complete story draft. Someone who is only reading incomplete chunks of your story is called an alpha reader, which is a subject for another post.

So who should you select for your beta readers?

1. Above all, you need people who are willing to (very generously) grant you their valuable time to both read and provide feedback on your manuscript. Because they are willing to do that, these people probably like you, which can actually be a problem. People that like you might not want to be brutally honest with you, so…

2. You want beta readers who are willing to be honest with you (brutally or not). If there’s a problem with your story, they are doing you no favors by holding back on it to spare your feelings. And even if they believe they are being honest with you, they are probably still holding back subconsciously. It’s understandable. They’re excited for you! You wrote a book, and they want to like it! It’s just a general hazard with any beta reader that you need to keep in mind.

3. You want beta readers to cover a wide spectrum of, well, everything. As writers, it is tempting to wrangle only our writer friends to beta read. Other writers are usually willing to “trade” beta reads of each other’s work, so convincing them can be easier. Writers also understand what another writer needs in terms of feedback, so their feedback can be more constructive, incisive, and to the point. But writers also love to over-analyze writing, and if you aren’t careful, you’ll end up with a story that only other writers will love. So have writers beta read for you, but also pick beta readers who have nothing to do with writing, and even ones who don’t normally read the genre your story is in. Non-fans of the genre will be the toughest sell, so you’ll get the harshest criticism, and if your writing can overcome that initial handicap, you’ll know you have something special on your hands.

So, now you’ve gotten your beta readers your manuscript and they are busily reading away. What do you tell them regarding feedback? Obviously everyone has a different style, but I always try to follow the following guidelines:

I DON’T: require my beta readers to give me feedback in a specific format or in a specific level of detail. Rather, I ask them to provide feedback at whatever level they are comfortable based on their schedule and their preferred style of reading. Some of them like to go so far as to line-edit your work (more so in short stories than in novels given the time commitment). Some prefer simply to give general impressions (“I liked this part but didn’t understand when the character did this. This detail confused me. What was even happening here?”). For me, the important part is that they don’t worry so much about the level of feedback that their experience of reading the story gets impacted. Ideally you want them reading your story like anyone else would.

I DO: ask my readers to have the reading and feedback done by a certain (reasonable) date. In my opinion it’s perfectly fair to do this as long as you explain it up front so that everyone’s on the same page (pun intended) and as long as you are willing to be flexible because obviously we all get busy. But if you don’t assign some (again, reasonable) date you’ll find yourself waiting for months, unwilling/unable to do major edits until all your beta readers are finished.

I DON’T: let my beta readers talk to each other until they’ve talked to me. I don’t want them to start cross-contaminating opinions. Treat them like suspects in a crime (but much more politely) and request feedback separately from each.

So now you’ve got your feedback. What do you do about it?

– Look for trends. Does everybody think the main character is a big jerk? Maybe that’s okay if that’s what you’re going for. But does everybody think the main character is such a huge jerk that they would have stopped reading if not for the fact that they promised you they’d read your story? That’s a problem. Conversely, if everyone has a different problem with the same aspect of the story, but they all agree it’s a problem, you need to look at it again. Don’t be afraid to follow up and ask for further clarification. I’ve had instances where every reader but one mentioned an aspect of the story that bothered them, and I specifically went back and asked that one person if plot point X bothered them at any point.

– Conversely, take complaints that only one person raises with a grain of salt. I’ve heard it said that if nobody can agree on the issues your manuscript has, you’re doing all right because you’ve gotten it down to the realm of personal taste. Everyone does have different tastes, after all, and they won’t all like every aspect of something you write, no matter how well it’s written.

– Lastly, remember that you, the author, have the final say. Beta readers are offering recommendations, not ironclad must-haves. The buck, or in this case the word, ultimately stops with you.

Working with Editors

November 8, 2013

Frank Morin

Editing Frank Morin Publishing 3 Comments

As writers, we love to focus on writing, on creating that next great story. It took me a while to realize that typing “The End” is only the completion of the first part of the process. Once we finish that first draft, get the story out to beta readers, compile all the useful feedback, determine edits, and finish subsequent drafts, we finally have a story we feel rocks on all levels and is ready to go.

That’s when we need editors.

Some indie authors try to claim they don’t need an editor, but I’ve never seen any such story turn out well. Not as well as it could have been. Not as well as it should have been. Not well enough to compete in today’s market with well-read readers who can spot an unedited story fast.

A book without an editor is like a theatrical production without dress rehearsal. You’ve got the characters, the dialogue, costumes, and a setting, but the whole has not been polished to where an audience can enjoy it.

Why invest so much time in producing a book only to undermine the finished product?

Usually the reason is one of two things: Time or Money.

Time: with the internet making it so easy to get books available to readers, it is so incredibly tempting to skip the careful edit and just getting it out to readers faster. Why wait when you could be selling copies already? The truth is taking a little more time and polishing the story will result in far better reviews and far more copies sold. I’ve started reading books that skimped on final polishing, and I was universally disappointed and usually threw the book away without finishing.

Money: Editors are not free. Yes, they’re an investment and authors need to find a way to cover that investment. If you don’t believe in your story enough to make that investment, convinced you’ll sell more than enough copies to still profit, then how are your readers going to believe in it?

Then again, with avenues like Kickstarter available, it’s often now possible to raise the money to cover such costs up front instead of having to fork over all the cash yourself. I plan to launch a Kickstarter campaign for one of my stories next year.

How do you find a good editor? There are lots of editors out there, and just like anything else, there are good ones and bad ones. Here’s where networking comes in. Talk with other authors about editors they liked and ones they didn’t. Good editors will provide a listing of stories they’ve edited, and that can provide great insight into whether or not they might be a good fit.

Once you find an editor, you’ve got to get on their schedule. Good editors are sought after and usually their schedules are booked out weeks or even months. Get on the list early, and don’t be late with your work. If you miss your deadline, it may be a while before they can fit you in again. If you see you’re going to be late, notify the editor as soon as possible to make it easier for them to rearrange their schedule with the least amount of disruption.

I worked with our own Joshua Essoe on the manuscript for Set In Stone, a YA Fantasy novel currently in the hands of my agent. I realized I needed to make some significant changes to the manuscript prior to sending it in, so we had to reschedule a couple of times. Joshua was very accommodating, but I tried to warn him far in advance, as soon as I realized I was going to be late.

That brings up another point: make sure your book is really finished prior to hiring an editor. If you’ve just completed your first draft, I’d recommend you take the time to have some beta readers finish it and compile their feedback. It’s likely you’ll need to make some changes. Go through it a couple more times to ensure it’s really where you want it, and that the book you wrote is really the book you thought you were writing. Only then will you be able to maximize the benefit of an editor. If they’re so busy giving you feedback on major structural issues with the work, it’ll be harder for them to help you really polish it. And if you want to go back again to hire them for a second pass, that’s going to cost more since they now have to invest more time in the project.

Even when your book is DONE and ready to go, you’ve found the editor you think will be perfect for the work, and you’ve sent it off to them, there’s the question of style. Some authors and editors just don’t see eye to eye on matters of style. There’s no way I know of to completely protect yourself from running into a situation like this.

Working with Joshua, I was extremely pleased. His comments were spot on, thoughtful, and insightful. I agreed with his approach to editing, and almost universally applied his suggested changes. With a different manuscript (also in the hands of my agent), I wasn’t quite so lucky. The editor was very experienced and well respected in the industry, and much of their suggestions were beneficial. However, we differed over some aspects of style. At first this worried me, and I wondered which of us wasn’t getting it. That’s where working with a second editor on a different work proved beneficial. I could compare the two editors’ styles, and realized they approached the same questions sometimes from very different points of view, with very different resulting recommendations.

So I had to make very conscious decisions regarding my own style and how I wanted to apply tone and voice to each story. I had made some of those decisions while writing, but hadn’t clearly defined it. The editing process forced me to choose specific stylistic approaches in each story. Only then could I see clearly which advice to accept and which to ignore. In some cases, the editor didn’t understand the style, and gave bad advice.

Just like everything else, it’s a learning process, and I consider the funds spent on editing both manuscripts well worth the investment.

Take away:

Prior to engaging an editor, make sure the book is really done.
Find an editor you feel you’ll be able to work well with. Use advice from other authors, and do your research.
Get on their schedule well in advance, and don’t be late with sending them the manuscript.
Notify them early if you fear you’ll miss a deadline.
Study their feedback carefully. Some of it may not be right. In the end, it’s your book and all decisions are your responsibility.
Don’t ever release a novel without a professional edit.

Blogs and Your Cash: Thoughts on Starting a Blog and Where Your Money Should Go

November 7, 2013

fictorians

Guest Posts Marketing The Writing Life Writing Tools 1 Comment

A guest post by Stephan McLeroy.

Hello Fictorian loyalists!

Blogging, the soapbox of our generation. And just like finding a soapbox down some random alley, it’s actually really easy to snag a blog these days. So easy, that, according to blogging.org, in 2012, there were 42 million blogs in the U.S. alone. With about 315 million people in the U.S. by the end of 2012, that means there was one blog for about every 7.5 people.

Then, on top of that, I’m sure there’s a cacophony of questions singing through your brain as you consider your own blog: “What will I post? How is this going to supplement my writing career? How many cats should I have on the site?”

These are all important questions. However, I would propose that the most important question you should be asking right now is, “How much money am I willing to spend?”

What I want to do is help you navigate a couple of the financial decisions that go into making a respectable blog. I hope that, after this, you’ll have your blog up and running, and be well on your way to creating a site that will blow the blogosphere away without breaking your wallet.

Number one: Getting your website hosted

To own any website on the internet, you need to get a domain URL (for writers, usually our name). Once you’ve thought of the URL you want, write it down on your best stationery along with two or three alternatives and go to the next step: finding a hosting site. There are tons of hosting sites out there, all vying for your business. If you ask around, you’ll find out people have vastly different preferences for what they want/require from hosting sites. However, being an active writer, you probably don’t have time for that, so I did you a solid by running a basic search for “best hosting site” on Google and got this sweet LifeHacker article. You can thank me later. Once on a hosting site, do a search for the URL of your choice by following the site’s instructions and sign up for hosting. You are well on your way to becoming a bonafide blogger.

Number two: Pumping money into your blog

Deciding how much money to spend on your new website falls along a spectrum. At one end we have the penny pincher who declares, “I will do everything myself!” To them, I say, play on! You have a lot of research to do. There are plenty of How-To books, YouTube videos, and, funny enough, blogs about what you need to learn in order to set up and maintain a blog successfully.

But if you’re like me, your dollar-per-hour rate is probably a lot higher than the gentleman or lady I was speaking to in the last paragraph. I have a day job and a very limited amount of free time. I need professional help. Oh, and a small team to help me with my blog (Hey-Yo!). I currently have a webmaster, a web designer, and a publicist friend who manages my posts, all for reasonable sums. The main thing I do is generate content for my blog (my editor, btw, reviews the content I make).

To make this type of set up work, remember that your blog is only a component of your publicity efforts. It supplements writing by being a place to post updates and work. With that in mind, I, for instance, set a budget for myself and my blogging exploits. Under no circumstances do I allow myself to blow that budget. If I need more for my designer this month, I reduce the amount of work I send to my publicist. Is there a broken plug-in on the site that needs addressing? Then design gets suspended until the plug-in is fixed.

This brings us to the next piece of advice.

Number three: Communication

No matter what team you set up, you gotta communicate with them to get good results. For me, at the end of each month I take a few minutes to have a discussion with my team, letting them know what I see as a priority and then getting their input. Everyone wants money, yes, but usually the work of one person directly affects the productivity of another, so that, 99% of the time, everyone is in agreement on where the money should go. We then create an in/out list for the month and boom! The well-oiled machine continues to crank out a respectable blog.

Number four: Make sure you trust your team

Just starting out, you’ll probably end up working with people who are your friends, but they may not be; they may be people you’ve met at work, at a convention, or online. Make sure you trust them, because without trust, you will not be able to have open, frank conversations, which wastes precious time you don’t have.

Your team may look smaller than mine, or larger, depending on your own needs. I would suggest, if anything, that you at least have someone who can design the site, someone who can manage the non-design programming, and someone who can help you keep regular posts going. From the successful bloggers I’ve spoken to, these seem like the bare essentials for running a site when you can’t do it by yourself.

I hope this little post helped get you started on your blogging exploits. I can say that I am still a novice at this and my advice is not the end all be all, but it’s what I’ve learned in the time I have been blogging. Feel free to leave comments or questions.

Good day!

Stephan McLeroy Bio:

Stephan McLeroy is a historical urban fantasy writer based out of the San Francisco Bay area. His current work, The Adventures of Lockwood and Blackfox can be read for free on his blog at stephanmcleroy.com. He recommends “Death on the Pearl River Delta.” It’s his favorite.

The Business of Promotion: When the Hero Comes Home 2

November 6, 2013

mary

Marketing Mary Pletsch Publishing The Writing Life 4 Comments

Doing business requires a businessperson to give some attention to promotion. If you’re a store, yes, you’ll get a few customers by hanging an open sign on your door – but not as many as you’ll get if you make sure to have an attractive display window, some enticing sales, an active social media presence and involvement in your local community. If you’re a writer, yes, you may sell a few books by virtue of their presence on a bookstore shelf or convention table, but not as many as you’ll sell if you choose striking cover art, participate in convention panels, have an active social media presence, interact with your audience….

You’ve created something and brought it into the world. You’re passionate and enthusiastic. There are other people out there who are also passioniate and enthusiastic, about your subject. All you need to do is let them know that your story exists.

Last month was Marketing and Promotion month here at The Fictorians. The Fictorians and their guests contributed some excellent tips to let you know the best ways to spread the word and boost the signal: you have a book for sale!

I have a book for sale.

Hook your readers’ attention. Let them know, in a few short sentences, what your story (and, if applicable, the anthology it’s in) is about:

Everyone knows the archetype of the hero’s journey. But do you know what happens after that journey ends?

When the Hero Comes Home 2 is a collection of short stories that begin where most stories end. The hero who returns is different from the average guy who left–how does he readjust to his old life? What advice does she give to the next generation of heroes? What happens when the hero comes home in defeat?

Blood Runs Thicker is available in the ebook version of When the Hero Comes Home 2. It’s the story of a young man named Jim and his personal hero, his best friend Al. Against all odds, Al has been elevated to a decorated veteran of a galactic war, and Jim fears he barely recognizes his old friend. He’s yet to learn that winning her medals has cost Al everything that ever mattered to her, and that a similar sacrifice looms on his own horizon as their destinies entangle.

Sometimes it’s fun to throw in a few “behind the scenes” details about writing the story. Human interest bits are appealing and help whet readers’ curiosity:

The core idea for Blood Runs Thicker was inspired by a single line in a Blue Oyster Cult song: Jim says some destinies should not be delivered. I started thinking: what is destiny? Why should some of them not come to pass, and what happens when they do anyway? Who is judging what “should” and “should not” be delivered? From this line, I developed my main character–Jim, a shaman who works with tarot cards–and his best friend Al. Jim’s cards foretell Al’s destiny: to become a hero, at a terrible cost. What Jim doesn’t recognize is that those cards predict the same fate for him.

If your audience is hooked, make it easy for them! Make sure they know how and where to purchase:

You can get the ebook version of When the Hero Comes Home 2 here, on sale for a limited time, in either Kindle or Epub formats:

http://dragonmoonpress.com/when-the-hero-comes-home-2/

Or you can buy from Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/When-Hero-Comes-Home-2-ebook/dp/B00F5CFVKW

So don’t just put that book on the shelf and hang the open sign on your door. Make sure your product looks good, and most importantly, let people know it’s out there–and why they should care.