Beta Reading

We are currently BOOKED for beta reading through August of 2024. Please fill out the contact form below to be placed on our waitlist!

 

Need an extra pair of eyes on your manuscript? We have you covered. Our beta readers are thorough and detail-oriented, meaning they will catch any plot holes, typos, or confusing sentences in your manuscript. We also look at plot lines, character development, and the overall flow of your manuscript. Our turnaround time depends on the length of your manuscript. Please fill out our beta reading request form below, and we will be in touch with you shortly! At this time, we only accept payment for beta reading services through Paypal or Venmo.

 

Here is what our team looks at when reading over your novel!

 

• Genre Standards-Ex. This book reads like a romance vs. a fantasy, or this is outside the typical ‘forced proximity’ trope. Could you re-orient chapters ten and eleven to re-direct this into an ‘enemies to lovers’ trope? We think that would work better!

• Plot Holes-Ex. Does everything line up correctly and leave us, “the reader,” without lingering questions about the plot?

• Consistency-Ex. If your character’s father passed away ten years ago, and we learned that in the first chapter, why does she say her father lives in New York in the tenth chapter?

• Character Development: How does your main character change throughout the story? Do their motivations stay the same or change throughout the story? How do they become a better person/achieve their final goal toward the end of your novel?

• Story Development/Flow: Does your novel meet the typical pacing of other books within your genre? Does the story climb to the climax smoothly and then drop down into a resolution? Is the resolution ‘worth’ everything your main character went through?

• Other issues related to your genre: For example, if you’re writing a fantasy novel in a world you built yourself, we will look at your world-building aspects to ensure it is believable and easy to follow. For example, if you use the word ‘people’ in a sentence, and your characters are all of a different species, we will notice and point this out to you. If you’re writing a romance, we will want to see how your main characters interact with each other and if their connection feels more genuine or forced.

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Please note that we are not a replacement for a copy editor. While we will be critiquing and sending feedback on your story, we will not focus on grammatical errors unless they are obvious and glaring (such as a misspelled word or a sentence typed twice.) We try to read like the average customer would read your book, not a seasoned editor. 

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We at Self Care for Authors offer to sign an NDA before looking over your manuscript if it makes you feel more comfortable. Please let us know if you wish for us to sign one when responding to our initial email. We can't wait to meet you!