Beta Reading

As a beta reader, you are integral to the writing process. A beta reader gets to read a story for free and gets to be a part of its development, but at the cost of polish. You read the story and then let the author know how it strikes you. Things like where it pulls you in or drags, where you were confused or what you would change. There are no wrong answers and the author weighs your input along with the input from other beta readers and tries to make a determination about what should or should not be done to improve the reading experience for everyone.

As an Arbitheon beta reader, you can read right in your browser from your computer or your phone or your tablet. You can comment as you go, either by paragraph if you like or even just highlight a few words and add a comment. At the end of each chapter, there are some questions to help guide your feedback – usually simple stuff.

Again, you are never wrong about your response. The best kind of questions – your answers are always right!

And, for many of our beta reading windows, we’d like to thank you by giving you free access to a Standard subscription to our Carvographer service for one to three months (depending on the length of the book). Or, if you need a Premium subscription, then a discount equal to the cost of the Standard subscription.

Beta Reading Windows

A window of time will be marked for a beta reading. A book or novella released for beta reading can be read during this window, usually a span of weeks with an opening and a closing date, and a roster of readers. Only those on the roster for that window can read it. Chapters may come out all at once or a few at a time, and on the day a window you’re on opens, we email you. Your windows are on your account’s Reading tab, each showing your progress through the material.

Getting on the Roster

• Sign up as a beta reader. Tick the beta reading box on your account’s Reading tab. When a window opens to sign-up, or a place on one comes free, we email you. Places are limited and go first come, first served: join, and you’re on the roster.
• When it’s full. Joining closes once every place is taken, and opens again if enough readers leave. If you have the box ticked and you’re not on the roster, then when seats open up, you’ll receive a new email letting you know it’s open again.
• By invitation. The author may also invite you, or add you himself. An invitation comes by email; if you don’t have an account yet, sign up with the address it came to and you’re on the roster.

Before You Join a Beta Reading

An open window has a page of its own where you’ll find the author’s notes on the book and, perhaps, a selection from the text to read as a preview, so you can judge whether it’s for you before taking a place. Books in progress may be written for adults, which is the main reason beta reading is limited to readers 18 or older.

Reading

• In order. Chapters open one at a time: each opens once you’ve read the one before it.
• Time on the page. A paragraph counts as read once it has been on your screen long enough to read, while the page is in front of you. A bar across the top of a chapter shows how far you are, and a line beside each paragraph fills as you read it.
• At your own pace. Read whenever you like while the window is open, on a phone or a computer; the site keeps your place.
• Revisions. The author may revise a chapter while the window is open. You always get the latest, and your comments carry over.

Comments

Select any word or series of words in a chapter to comment on them, or comment on a whole paragraph. You can even comment on a picture or a map, pointing at places on it if you like. Say whatever comes to mind: a line that landed, a name you lost track of, a scene that dragged. You can change or delete a comment until the window closes. Your comments go to the author; other readers never see them.

Questions

Some chapters end with a few questions, and there are questions about the whole book you can answer any time. Most take a tap/click or two, a choice or a number on a scale; some ask you to write. A chapter’s questions open with the chapter, and you can change your answers until the window closes.

Finishing

You’ve finished a window once you’ve read every chapter out and answered each set of questions before it closes. After it closes you can still read, but comments and answers are closed.

Some windows, not all, carry a reward for finishing: a discount on a Carvographer subscription for a number of months. A window’s page says whether it has one. A reward is kept on your account for when you subscribe. It has no cash value, can’t be transferred, and is never tied to a review. Just our way of saying thanks for being part of the team!

Leaving

Until a window opens, you can leave it from its page. After that, write to us and we’ll take you off the roster. What you read, said and answered stays, should you come back while there’s room.

Keeping It to Yourself

The chapters, pictures and questions in a window are unpublished work, shared with you in confidence. Don’t copy, post, share or quote them outside the site, and don’t let anyone else read through your account. That holds until the book is published, and for good for anything left out of it. Once it’s out, you’re free to say what you thought of it. The terms have the rest, including restrictions on what we may do with your feedback.

18 or Older

Beta reading is for readers 18 or older. Ticking the beta reading box on your account says you are; if you were invited instead, you’re asked once, the first time you open a window. We never ask for a birthdate.

Your Information

While you read, the site keeps how long each paragraph was on your screen, your comments and your answers, and shows them to the author. The privacy page says what’s kept, for how long, and how to have it deleted.

Contact

Questions about beta reading, or about a window you’re on: support@arbitheon.com