Seeking Beta Reader for Gay Beauty and the Beast Retelling

[KittenEV]

Hi. I'm seeking an alpha/beta reader for my upcoming novel tentatively entitled Beauty and the Beast and the Boy. It's not finished yet since I am looking to post it onto Kindle Vella where you upload chapter by chapter. I need someone to read each chapter before I post and give me some feedback so I can revise it before showing the world lol. As of right now, only a few chapters are written. By the time it's done, it will be novel length.

The Plot (forgive me for the terrible summary, I usually work on the blurb after writing the entire story haha): Twins, Alannah and Avery are transported to another realm when Avery feels compelled to pluck a rose from a mysterious bush. Disoriented and soaked from being caught in a terrible storm, the twins happen across a castle and venture inside to seek shelter. There they encounter a monstrous beast who imprisons them. Although his outward appearance is fearsome and his attitude toward the twins is chilled at best, Avery feels there is something more to the beast.

 

[KittenEV]

Hi. I'm seeking an alpha/beta reader for my upcoming story tentatively entitled Beauty and the Beast and the Boy. It's not finished yet since I am looking to post it onto Kindle Vella where you upload chapter by chapter. I need someone to read each chapter before I post and give me some feedback so I can revise it before showing the world lol. As of right now, only a few chapters are written.

The Plot (forgive me for the terrible summary, I usually work on the blurb after writing the entire story haha): Twins, Alannah and Avery are transported to another realm when Avery feels compelled to pluck a rose from a mysterious bush. Disoriented and soaked from being caught in a terrible storm, the twins happen across a castle and venture inside to seek shelter. There they encounter a monstrous beast who imprisons them. Although his outward appearance is fearsome and his attitude toward the twins is chilled at best, Avery feels there is something more to the beast.

 

[Unimportant]

Hi Kitten, I'll ask a mod to merge your duplicate threads.

 

[KittenEV]

Hi Kitten, I'll ask a mod to merge your duplicate threads.

oh thank you. didn't know there were duplicate threads sorry!

 

[Unimportant]

Kitten EV, have you considered writing the book, then carrying out structural edits as needed, then polishing it, then asking for beta readers, then carrying out further edits as per their suggestions and posting those final versions chapter by chapter? Since you only get once chance to 'show it to the world' would it be better to show the world your best work rather than your raw work? (Betas can't comment on structure, pacing, internal consistency, character arcs, etc unless they can read the entire work in one go.)

 

[Unimportant]

computer glitches do that sometimes!

 

[Sage]

Merged!

 

[Unimportant]

AW moderators purely rock. They BOULDER!

 

[mccardey]

Hi. I'm seeking an alpha/beta reader for my upcoming story tentatively entitled Beauty and the Beast and the Boy. It's not finished yet since I am looking to post it onto Kindle Vella where you upload chapter by chapter. I need someone to read each chapter before I post and give me some feedback so I can revise it before showing the world lol. As of right now, only a few chapters are written.

Wouldn't it be better to have the whole thing written and polished before you begin uploading chapters?

(Oh, I see Unim beat me to it.)

 

[KittenEV]

Kitten EV, have you considered writing the book, then carrying out structural edits as needed, then polishing it, then asking for beta readers, then carrying out further edits as per their suggestions and posting those final versions chapter by chapter? Since you only get once chance to 'show it to the world' would it be better to show the world your best work rather than your raw work? (Betas can't comment on structure, pacing, internal consistency, character arcs, etc unless they can read the entire work in one go.)

I have considered that. Honestly there are 2 reasons why I want to try the write and release chapter by chapter method. It's gonna sound greedy, but one reason is money. Vella gives, from what I hear, good bonuses to people posting and I could really use the money. Secondly, I think it could be interesting to give short term deadlines, sort of going back to fanfic roots lol. It's an interesting concept of writing and releasing chapter by chapter.

 

[mccardey]

I have considered that. Honestly there are 2 reasons why I want to try the write and release chapter by chapter method. It's gonna sound greedy, but one reason is money. Vella gives, from what I hear, good bonuses to people posting and I could really use the money. Secondly, I think it could be interesting to give short term deadlines, sort of going back to fanfic roots lol. It's an interesting concept of writing and releasing chapter by chapter.

It's an interesting idea. I'd find it hard to beta an ongoing piece, though - I'd be very aware that any feedback might be a bit unmooring. Usually a good beta means a couple of reads-through for me, to see if the story development is even and the character arcs are well-founded (and complete).

You call it a story - is it a novella? A novel? And I know it's fairy-tale retelling - is it romance? It might help to be clearer.

Good luck with it.

 

[KittenEV]

It's an interesting idea. I'd find it hard to beta an ongoing piece, though - I'd be very aware that any feedback might be a bit unmooring. Usually a good beta means a couple of reads-through for me, to see if the story development is even and the character arcs are well-founded (and complete).

You call it a story - is it a novella? A novel? And I know it's fairy-tale retelling - is it romance? It might help to be clearer.

Good luck with it.

Thank you for you candor! It'll be novel length when it's done.

 

[Woollybear]

I have considered that. Honestly there are 2 reasons why I want to try the write and release chapter by chapter method. It's gonna sound greedy, but one reason is money. Vella gives, from what I hear, good bonuses to people posting and I could really use the money. Secondly, I think it could be interesting to give short term deadlines, sort of going back to fanfic roots lol. It's an interesting concept of writing and releasing chapter by chapter.

I've got a friend who has done well with Vella. Good luck! My friend does not bother with beta readers for her Vella work, but rather workshops heavily with a critique group--chapter by chapter. You could try to find a critique group? There are a bunch on Discord. Perhaps ask on WriteHive?

 

[KittenEV]

I've got a friend who has done well with Vella. Good luck! My friend does not bother with beta readers for her Vella work, but rather workshops heavily with a critique group--chapter by chapter. You could try to find a critique group? There are a bunch on Discord. Perhaps ask on WriteHive?

I hadn't considered a critique group. Thank you for the suggestion!

 

[Unimportant]

I have considered that. Honestly there are 2 reasons why I want to try the write and release chapter by chapter method. It's gonna sound greedy, but one reason is money. Vella gives, from what I hear, good bonuses to people posting and I could really use the money. Secondly, I think it could be interesting to give short term deadlines, sort of going back to fanfic roots lol. It's an interesting concept of writing and releasing chapter by chapter.

I hope you let us know how it works out!

 

[KittenEV]

I hope you let us know how it works out!

I definitely will! All of you at absolutewrite have been around since I started making a serious effort on publishing my writing and I couldn't be happier to have all of your support!

 

[Unimportant]

I definitely will! All of you at absolutewrite have been around since I started making a serious effort on publishing my writing and I couldn't be happier to have all of your support!

My (admittedly vague) understanding of the Vella programme is:
1. Author publishes the story in chunks as a series.
2. Readers can read the first few chapters for free
3. Readers then pay a few cents per chapter, using a "tokens" system, to continue reading the installments, until they either finish the book or lose interest.
4. Author gets paid a share of each chapter's earnings
5. Author gets quarterly bonuses based on Something Something Something (which seems to be very vaguely defined even to the authors in the programme)
6. At any time after a fixed minimum period once the full novel has been posted (three months? can't remember) the author can pull the novel from Vella and publish it elsewhere as a standard e-book (or do whatever else they want to do with it, with the caveat that first serial rights and possibly first rights may have been used up)

So it's dependent on a market that is willing/prefers to read books in installments, rather than as a standard ebook in one go. Which I am sure there is a particular readership that fits that demographic. It does sound like it has its benefits, in that you get to double-dip: first you get the readers who want installments, and then you publish it as an e-book on the usual Kindle format or whatever and you get the other set of readers who want standard e-books.

From what little I've read, Vella started out quite lucrative but has since decreased as the number of authors participating skyrocketed (more competition for slices of a non-growing pie). The authors who seem to do best write in the most popular genres (romance, of course!) and have completed, edited novels that they can put up in installments of their choosing, with no pressure to produce in a certain time frame and with the assurance their work is edited and polished. I expect the latter criterion is more critical for pansters, whose first drafts are likely to be rather peripatetic, rather than plotters, who do the bulk of the story and character arc design up-front.

Anyhow, KittenEV, please do keep us informed! Lots of folks have a "my self publishing journey" thread in the SP subforum. If you'd be willing to start one, and to share regular updates with us, I'm sure heaps more people besides me would be fascinated to learn!

Also, back on topic: if you're seeking alpha/beta readers on AW, it might be good to put your first 1000 words or so up in Share Your Work and ask for crits, stating you're also looking for critiquers who would be along for the Vella journey. That way critiquers can see whether your writing style, storyline, voice, etc are something they'd want to commit to, and you can see whether or not their critiquing style would be of any use to you for this particular project.

Best of luck!