Scary but Fascinating.
I took the first step in self-publishing this week. I sent one of the stories from the Beach Misses series to three beta readers I found and hired online. It was odd to ask someone to read and critique my work who I do not know or know how competent or capable they are. I picked three based on a few things; experience noted on their profile, college degree, and to some degree length their willingness to work with LGBTQ characters. One person had a varied background in writing, theater, and teaching. Those qualities seemed perfect to beta-read. Another person’s profile ticked off several things that seemed like a good fit: teacher, editor, and writer of short stories. They also have a degree in creative writing. The third person was young, and though not as experienced, was also a writer who listed proofreading as a skill. Maybe being younger this person would bring a younger perspective which seems like a good idea.
The scary part was – what if they didn’t like the story? I’ve spent countless hours writing, rewriting, and editing. The next thought was – what if they don’t like the story but don’t want to offend me? Would they be able to tell me that my story was crap? Well, I may never know and will have to assume their assessment is unbridled.
I chose ‘Secret Keeper’ as the test story because out of all the stories earmarked for the book, this one is my second least confident story. It’s a speculative fiction story about a tarot card reader who helps a young man forget a debilitating secret. I’m not as comfortable writing “magical realism” as someone called it, I’m much more confident with romance. I’ll be very interested in what these three people say about this story.
The reason I hired a beta reader and not an editor is because of the short story format. An editor is much more expensive and would be a better choice for a full novel. A good beta reader just might point out the problem spots in the story which I can fix easily. Then all I will need to do is find a proofreader and then books can be printed. Oh, and then I’ll need to get them into a book store, on Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, Amazon . . . you get it. Now that I think about it, writing the stories might have been the easy part.
Let’s hope for a good response (negative or positive) from one of these beta readers.
If you want to see the story list and read excerpts, click here.
If you want to read a full story or all the stories, contact me.
If you want to publish or help me publish this book, contact me now!