Tag Archives: writing

Alpha Readers – Requirements May Vary

Initial feedback from the beta reader experience has shown me that my expectations for alpha and beta readers are not entirely accurate. It also showed me that my research and the information out there on these two roles is not entirely consistent. Before I expand upon my own thoughts, focusing on alpha readers, information I researched came from these sources:

Catherine Milos’s summary is the closest to my own experience and expectations in the comparison between the two roles with this description (I encourage you to take a look at all the articles):

  • “Alpha Readers assist writers by offering a reader’s perspective for a manuscript after an initial draft. The manuscript often has not been edited. It’s not uncommon for an Alpha to read before the author edits the first draft.
  • Beta Readers assist writers by offering a reader’s perspective for a manuscript which has been edited and is shortly due for publication.”

Some of the articles call out that alpha readers look at your manuscript from the perspective of a writer, looking for plot holes and writing issues. While beta readers look at it from a reader perspective looking for what they like and do not like.

My Findings on Alpha Readers

My greatest area of confusion in my first run through this process is around editing. I plan to hire a copy editor for my book before publishing, so I was not as concerned with that aspect before requesting beta readers. I have someone I consider my alpha reader looking for plot holes and character development issues. Upon rewrite I do another review for editing purposes. Unfortunately, I have read my own work so many times that some grammar is just overlooked. This was more of a distraction for some of the beta readers than I initially anticipated.

I know copy editing is not my strength, so I need to adjust my process to compensate. This includes adjusting how I approach alpha and beta readers to better accommodate my style and skills. My sister is my first reader, and will continue to do so. While she will also be a beta reader, I call her my first reader as well because she takes a look at my rough draft. This is the draft where I jump from scene to scene and do not have the secondary characters as well developed as they need to be. The first read for me is: Does the story work? Which characters are standing out and which are bland? What are the big plot holes or world building aspects that are not making sense? These give me some broad brushes to fill in when I go for the initial rewrite to smooth out the rough edges in preparation for a true alpha read.

The second step for me is the alpha reader. First lesson: I need more than one. No matter how much feedback hurts, it is a growing kind of pain. Second lesson: I need alpha readers with complementary skills. I have enlisted my husband for this, as he and my sister have a good combination of skills between the two of them. She will be looking more at plot, characters, world, etc. He will focus on conflicting descriptions, grammar, and clarity. I will be looking for a third as well, and likely a critique partner, but alpha readers need to be people you trust. They read something rough, and you need people who can work with you to build something and not tear you down while doing it.

With this learning, I’m looking at another round of beta readers for this book after incorporating the fixes from my new alpha reader and the first round of beta readers. I appreciate the three of them working with me on this round. It was my first time submitting for a beta read, and they were willing to push through that. The feedback and advice from experienced beta readers has been much appreciated.

I will not go into the beta reader process too much here, as there is a lot of advice on beta readers already out there and easy to find on the beta process. To summarize my findings on getting to that stage: Know your own strengths and weaknesses and your writing process. Tailor your alpha readers to your process and to have complementary strengths with you and with each other. Finally, unless you know your beta readers well and they are not concerned with grammar, make sure your manuscript is clean of obvious errors before you move to the beta reader stage.

Still on track for publication this year!

Cover Art Reveal

The art for my first book is complete! Another step on the journey to publication. There will be additional iterations along the way, as I will need changes for physical books and might need adjustments for the final uploads to digital publication, but I’m checking this off for now.

To share a little about the process, I previously mentioned I reached out to three artists and was waiting on timelines and quotes. After selecting artist Jonathan Lebel, we started communicating more about what I was looking for in the image. I wanted a figure with a sword in a forest, with the forest showing subtle signs of going through a drought. The forest would be more of the focus than the figure.

I helpfully provided a detailed example of what I imagined it would look like.

First cut, I had to change the figure a bit, as the wings needed to be larger to fit with the story. Now she is wrapped up in them fully like a wrap dress or chainmail. We also went back and forth on font a few times, as this was about the book and not the art, so we needed the title to pop out at you. The first font selected also looked more like a romance novel, so we ended up changing that out.

The original flowy font had my test group (friends) thinking romance novel.

I researched other novel covers. The layout, the font(s) used, and the colors are all very important, as a cover is part of the book advertising. If I had to highlight only one lesson learned from this process, it would be to do more research about covers up front to determine more than only what I want the image to look like. The positioning and fonts used are just as important, and I will have more specific preferences for them at the start when I do this again.

I ended up going to Font Squirrel and searching for the Cinzel fonts for my cover. This is a font available for free download and use at &Discover. I described the font as striking with elegance when I was sharing it with my test group. The change was amazing and I loved how it fit the theme I was going for much better than before.

A big thank you to artist Jonathan Lebel for working with me on this cover. You can see his work on ArtStation at this link, and I’m sure it will not be difficult to spot the images that had me reaching out to him. He also provided the butterfly wings you now see at the top of my website pages. Should you happen to pick up my book once it is out, you can read all about those wings. More goals for 2021!

Introducing Tiffany

My name is Tiffany Shearn, and I am an author.

The published part of being an author is still in-work, but I’m getting so close to jumping the last hurdles and putting my work out there. I started this blog to share my journey.

I have a full-length novel written, so what is next? I will admit I am still learning this part, but my list right now is:

  • Beta readers.
  • Copy editor.
  • Cover art.
  • Publication

This is where it gets scary. You put so much of yourself into work that you love, it is difficult to receive the constructive feedback you need to take your work to the next level. I love my story, and I love how it has evolved as I have grown, but it is at the point where I want to share it, and I want it to be good enough to share.

I have always had an active imagination, drifting off into worlds all my own. In college I started writing these ideas down simply so they would not keep distracting me from the much less interesting lectures. That is all they were at first. Ideas. Vague concepts that floated on the pages without much substance holding them together.

I don’t know the moment I decided to weave in the threads of a story, or when that story became a world with people I wanted to know. Now here we are, ready to move forward one more time.

As this is about introducing me as well as my work, I should share some of my background. I was born and raised in the Puget Sound (Washington State, USA) and have stayed here all my life. I love traveling, but this area has so much variety to offer and limited poisonous creatures, so I always want to return home.

I work in Finance and have now worked at two of the big employers in the area. The numbers and problem solver are my favorite parts of the job, and I have worked with some great people over the years. Big business office politics can drive me bonkers, but no job is perfect. You try to focus on the parts you love.

Some of my hobbies other than writing:

  • Reading. I am a fan of the fantasy genre primarily, but I also dabble in mystery, romance, and science fiction.
  • Attending soccer games – Go Sounders!
  • Playing Dungeons & Dragons with our friends. I play in my husband’s game and he plays in mine.
  • Ziplining. Okay, this one is not exactly a hobby, but we try to go once on every vacation if there is one locally.

Right now, I have two aspirations. One is to publish my book, so I’m working on sharing my personal story and working through the steps to sharing my literary story. A second is to go in to finance counseling. I love numbers and budgeting, and I would love to be able to offer these skills to people who can benefit most from them. Helping someone get out of debt or buy a first house would be as great as seeing my name on the cover of a book.

I will keep you in the loop on all of this as the weeks fly by, and I hope more people join along the way.