Alpha, Beta & ARC Readers S.2.E.5.

Alpha, Beta & ARC Readers Season 2 Episode 5

In this episode of The Djuna Shellam Podcast, Season 2 Episode 5, I discuss Alpha, Beta & ARC readers, and explain who and what they are.

Independent authors and publishers often rely upon other people’s help to polish their work and avoid making mistakes prior to publishing. We also employ the assistance of others to market our published work. Used well, these readers can help an author improve their work considerably.

Here’s a brief description of the Alpha, Beta & ARC readers.

An Alpha-reader is someone who reads a manuscript in its early form. Usually, it’s someone the writer knows and trusts. Though it doesn’t have to be, I would think it would ideally be someone who knows the writer’s work and the genre and can give an honest assessment of the unfinished work. They may offer suggestions to the author in regard to removing an idea or adding something to the story.

The Beta-reader reads a manuscript that is “finished” but may be lacking deep editing and such. Their role is to identify if there are holes in the plot or parts that create confusion, or a host of other issues a book might have. Beta-readers can be found in social site groups, or amongst the author’s friends/family/colleagues.

An ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) reader is someone who reads an unpublished copy of an author’s book with the “promise” of writing an honest review. Not all ARC readers will follow up with a review. In that case, if I were the author, I’d not invite that person to be an ARC again.

While researching for this week’s episode, I stumbled upon three websites I believe could be helpful for writers at any stage of their writing path.

Wattpad

I didn’t delve too deeply into the site, but I will soon. But, it was interesting enough to me to share it with my fellow writers.

Unsplash

This is a site for royalty-free photos at reasonable prices.

Indies Unlimited

I mentioned a site called Thebloggerlist on the podcast, but strangely enough, even though I wrote the web address down, I can’t find it again. In its place, I submit Indies Unlimited as an excellent resource.

Podcast

For a list and links to other podcast streamers, go HERE.

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Until next week, s’long!