Tried and Trusted Indie Publishing
Beta Reading
Tried and Trusted Indie Publishing offers a reading service that will give you an invaluable overview of your manuscript, covering the various elements of your writing such as your characters and their development, description and setting, dialogue, plot and pacing.
It will also consider the scope of your book and its suitability for your intended audience.
This is a read-only advisory service that does not include detailed editing. It is an investment that can substantially reduce your editing costs. The more of the work that you can do for yourself, the less work will be needed by the editor.
When requesting a quote for editing services, this will help us determine the level of editing assistance you need.
Are you ready for this?
You have finished typing your novel – the first draft is complete – well done. Many writers never get that far.
Now what? Get set to publish?
Not yet.
It is a good idea to put your novel aside for a month, maybe two, while you let your mind be occupied with completely different distractions. Then, you can return to your manuscript with fresh eyes, and a fresh mind.
When you read over it again, don’t be surprised to find sections that are confusing, even though they made sense when you wrote them. You may find scenes that add nothing to your story, and need to be removed because they interrupt the narrative flow. You will pick up the spelling and grammar errors that you were blinded to before.
This is the opportunity to do your first revision, get the manuscript as good as you can.
Even the most experienced authors do not write a perfect first draft. They will get their trusted beta readers to pick up on problems they missed and fix them before sending it to their editors.
When you are through your first stage of editing, you would benefit from an independent assessment, where you can receive feedback on your work and find out where your strengths are and where the manuscript needs improving.
A beta reader is a completely objective viewer of your manuscript. They don’t have the benefit of knowing what you were thinking as you wrote the book.
They will be able to highlight plot holes, problems with continuity, believability, story logic, and how well your characters come to life for them. You might have begun subplots, and then let them fade out.
Experienced writers may only need to have the reader look over specific aspects. If they are aware of their weaknesses – they may only want those aspects looked at.
Maybe they need to add more or less description, spread out the revelation of information so it is not dumped all at once or make their characters more individual.
After considering the beta reader’s report, you have the opportunity to improve your manuscript again before seeking an editor’s help. The more that you are able to do – the less you will be paying an editor to do.
Manuscript must be presented in an electronic format – MS Word or MS Word compatible preferred.