Beta Readers and ARCs--What are they?

Beta Readers are ordinary (or not so ordinary) people who help authors by pre-reading books and offering their suggestions for plot flaws or spotting typos and errors. They get a free book when it is published and I publicly thank them inside the book and hope they give my book a review on Amazon and Goodreads. I can't have too many Beta readers and you are interested to try doing it, just email or message me. The process is simple and a good way to get free books.

ARCs are Advanced Reader Copies which are sent out in hopes of getting reviews. Large publishers may have a thousand reviews before the first book is sold. They often print some of those reviews on the dust jacket. Independent authors need reviews too, and offer books for reviews--without demanding "good" reviews. They should be honest. Again, if this sounds good to you, email or message me.

Why are these important to an author? Well, Beta readers saves me thousands of dollars in hiring editors and allows me to publish a better product. ARCs generate reviews. Reviews generate sales. Sales make me happy.

I have a new science fiction book almost ready for my Betas, a good old-fashioned spaceship kind of story with more than a few twists that I think is perhaps my best book yet (I always think that about the one I'm working on--it keeps me positive). I'd like to think it will be ready for Beta reads in a week or so.

LeRoy   

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