In the last post, I told you about finishing The Appearance of Power. I sent it out to six beta readers. As a reminder, it is a young adult fantasy about the son of a deposed tyrant mage who is being tested for magic. Chaos ensues.
Beta reader #1 finished it and had a couple of suggestions. This person reads some fantasy, but not much in the YA genre. He is a guy, however, so with a main male character, I find the feedback helpful. Also, he is not a writer, so getting regular reader feedback is a bonus.
Beta reader #2 is a writer who also reads fantasy. As a writer, he had a lot of helpful suggestions, including some developmental edit ideas that I think will be really great.
Beta reader #3 is a multi-book published author, who writes in fantasy/romance. I got numerous line edits that I immediately took, as well as several developmental ideas. I am taking some where I think my book isn’t quite clear enough, and leaving some that don’t match my vision for the story. But that’s the nature of beta reading. You don’t have to take every suggestion, but it is so valuable to get different perspectives.
Beta reader #4, who is a published author in YA dystopian and time travel fantasy, is a couple hundred pages in, and very complimentary so far. I am really looking forward to the notes. Beta reader #5 is about a hundred pages in. This person is a reader – not in the YA genre – but they do have experience with PTSD, which one of my characters has. I am excited to hear if I am handling this correctly, or if I need some changes to be more authentic. Beta reader #6 is another writer who is mired in their own revisions right now, so it will be a little while before I hear back, but that’s good, because I can’t review notes from multiple beta reads at once.
In the next week, I will make revisions based on the notes I have already received, and then send the manuscript to the editor. I can incorporate other notes later when I review what the editor suggests.
As noted last time, the timeline for publication is uncertain right now. I will share more about this book as I get closer to publishing it.
Stay tuned for more updates and thanks for reading.
