I love to read, and I enjoy doing reviews of what I read. I am available as a beta-reader, but I want to clarify what I will do, and what I won’t do.

Fiction: I do very few reviews of fiction. I read very little fiction these days (that’s the subject of another blog post). I will read an occasional historical fiction book if the subject and time period are interesting to me.

Non-fiction: I will beta-read most non-fiction, including business, scientific, motivational, humor, history, and biography. I probably won’t read a biography of someone who isn’t dead.

Short stories/memoir/poetry: I’ll beta-read short stories and poetry, but almost no memoir, unless the subject really interests me.

What I will give you as a beta-reader

• I will read through the entire book – I promise!
• I will comment on the content giving you an overall comment on its benefits to your target audience.
• I will give you a list of questions and comments. I’ll tell you what I think works well and what I think doesn’t work, and why. 
• I will note places (sentences/paragraphs) that are unclear or need more explanation (my opinion).
• I will tell you when I find inconsistencies, like two names for the same character or place, or when the gun was a pistol in Chapter 1 and a rifle in Chapter 13.
• If I find something I think is an error or an anachronism (like having a character in 18th century England say, “awesome!”) I’ll point it out.
• Because I have a background as an English major and teacher, I may not be able to resist  pointing out some egregious grammar/spelling/word choice errors, but I won’t sweat the small stuff.

What I won’t give you as a beta-reader

• I won’t promise to give you a review unless I feel the book is worthy of 5 stars, I am a bit of a rebel here, because I don’t feel every book is worth a 5 star review. I know that most people want 5 star reviews to boost ratings on Amazon.  Let me know if you want me to do a review (Amazon and Goodreads) knowing this.
• I won’t tell you how to fix things.  That’s your job.

Still want me to be a beta-reader? Send me an email (jean [at] jeanwilsonmurray [dot] com or comment on this post.

Back to writing…

Jean Murray