Monday, September 22, 2014

Calling All Beta Readers!

Hey all! I hope you're all doing great.

Me... wonderful. Shoe biz is taking off, while slowly but surely allowing me more time to work on the books I want to publish this year.

I'm hoping to finish my current round of edits by the end of the month, but I don't think I'm going to make my self-imposed 31 October deadline. But that's okay. I've achieved a ton.

That said, I need some help. More specifically, beta readers.

For those of you new to the term, beta readers read over the story and comment on things they liked, or didn't, or things that didn't make sense, that sort of thing. In particular, I'm looking for people who can highlight where I still haven't brought in enough information from the previous series.

And as always, I'm willing to repay by critiquing your work, beta reading, or even searching for and finding what's making a story not work. (I'll try my absolute best at this, of course.)

If you're interested, please leave a comment with info on your book (name, genre etc), what you'd like for me to do in return, and your e-mail address. 

Now, the information on my book:

Genre: YA Epic (Portal) Fantasy
Name: War of Six Crowns: The Heir's Choice
Blurb (still needs editing): 



Sixteen-year-old London girl Callan Blair thought that going to the elves would unlock the mystery around her past. Instead, it thrusts her right in the middle of Tardith’s political games. On the one side are the elves and King Keill, her grandfather. On the other, King Aurek of Icaimerith, who also moonlights as the evil entity that has destroyed Callan’s life many times over.

Aurek is on the edge of erasing the elves out of existence. The only thing that will stay his hand: Callan marrying his heir. Not wanting to let her choice destroy a nation, she agrees.

At least she isn’t going into the lion’s maw alone. Quinlan Westenmere, the Nordian commander who had brought her to the elves, swears to go with her. Only he insists she take more Nordians with her. Darrion and Gawain are tasked with rescuing the Black Knight, Nordaine’s last blood heir, and Aurek has him.

Things don’t get simpler as the wedding approaches. Gawain refuses to support Callan's decisions. She has to betray both the elves and Aurek to help find the Knight. On top of that, her elvish entourage leaves much to be desired.

But nothing compares to her meeting the man she’s to marry.   

So... what do you think? Anyone interested in helping a girl out? 

26 comments:

  1. you see the light at the end of the tunnel...yeah! :O)

    (I'd jump in to help, but I'm not into epic anything...I need a ghoul beheading or a werewolf bewieldering every minute or I fall asleep)

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    1. Hahaha I'll keep that in mind for my millions of other books I have planned. :-P

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  2. This sounds so interesting!! I'm not into mooshie gooshie stuff but I can handle a little! I'm up for a good elfish adventure if you don't mind me setting my eyes on your master piece.

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  3. Wish I had the time to beta read but I don't. Hope you find the right betas for your adventurous story.

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    1. Thanks Sheena. And good luck with getting everything done. :-)

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  4. When did you need the beta done by? I'd be willing to help out, but I've got a few already that'll take me into October.

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    1. Hey Loni, my original publishing deadline was for end October, but I think it's highly unlikely now. I rather want to have a high-quality product later than an okay one right now.

      As such, I'm expecting to finish my big edits by the end of the month, and would love beta readers to help out after that.

      So if you are interested in helping me out, just let me know when in October you'll be available and maybe we can work something out.

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  5. Hi, Misha. So glad that your shoe biz is going well.

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    1. Thanks Susanne. I'm also thrilled to see the biz going so smoothly. Just wishing I can get into more of a schedule again between work and writing etc. Right now, though, the business is taking up an insane amount of time.

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  6. I just love the shoes in your shoe business. Good luck with the edits!

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  7. Wait, you have a shoe business? Where have I been?

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    1. Hahaha it's not really where you've been. I've largely been absent the past few months and did maybe like one post to let everyone know where I disappeared to.

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  8. Here's to shoes! Everyone needs them at some point. Good luck with it, Misha.
    I can't take on a manuscript at the moment, but I can lend a hand with the blurb. I'll send you something via email. Hope it helps.

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    1. Thanks Lee. I'm really grateful for the blurb advice you sent me.

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  9. I can suggest JE Oneil. She read one of my manuscripts, and you don't have to read one of hers in return.
    http://jeoneil.blogspot.com/

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  10. A shoe business! Do you carry running shoes? No matter, I'd love to take part as a beta reader. In return, I'd like to either swap beta reading duties (when I finish my book next year) and/or blog guest post swap. Cheers and my email: cinthiaritchie (at) aol (dot) com

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    1. Thanks for the offer, Cinthia!

      I mailed you. :-)

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    2. You have a shoe business? That's so great! Good luck with the editing part of your book. It's the tiring part but I guess, the rewarding one in the end.

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  11. I haven't blogged in ... FOREVER.
    So I haven't seen your blog in that long. haha

    Is this the same book you had been working on the last couple of years... (Wasn't it titled Doorways??) or is this a different one?

    ALSO- Id love to swap betas if you're still up for it...
    I could get yours done and back by mid October... maybe sooner.

    Mine is:
    YA paranormal romance
    The Empyrean

    When seventeen year old Lily comes home to find her parents brutally murdered, she swears to bring justice to those responsible. Her quest leads her through The Empyrean, the vast land of the Fae, where the monsters who haunt her dreams are real. With a political rebellion building, terror and bloodshed stand in her way at every turn. With his saucy arrogance, the mysterious Sylph Fae, Alec, is her only light through the darkness.
    As the Empyrean sucks her in, Lily finds herself getting more involved with it’s devastating war than she needs to be, costing her blossoming romance with Alec to be strained. Will he be the one to heal her shattered heart and help her claim justice for her parents, or is he a weakness that will cause her ultimate undoing?


    If it sounds interesting and you want to swap - let me know

    TheresaJonesAuthor(at)gmail(dot)com

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  12. Hi Misha, I'm up for beta reading if you are interested in slightly post-apocalyptic sci-fi with cyber tendencies in return. I'm in the thick of revisions right now. I don't work half as quickly as you, so I'll be looking for beta readers hopefully early in the new year. You have my email address if you are interested.

    I won't paste the whole blurb here, and I haven't yet got around to boiling it down to a one-para version, but the first paragraph gives a flavor of the set-up:

    In a world where weather forecasting is a life-or-death profession, hard sciences and technology are the only things keeping people alive and fed. Anthropologists, soft and useless, rank slightly below politicians and telemarketers. This sucks for Charles Hawthorne, Professor of Anthropology.

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  13. Hi Misha, I would like to read in and offer comment. My mail ID is saket.suryesh@gmail.com. I am working on a fiction - romance, which will be over, by December, (or not). I can swap the same for your comments, if you have time then.

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Thanks for commenting! I love to read what you think.

Feel free to ignore the check-box saying "Prove you're not a robot." My word verification is off, but I moderate comments to posts older than two weeks.