Tuesday's Links to Writing & Marketing Blog Posts

SHOULD YOU HAVE AN ALPHA READER?

By: Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

I have a good friend who reads my work during the first draft process (hi Ann!). She’s my alpha reader, giving me thoughts on rough novels I dump right from my head onto the page. Bad pages. Messy pages. Pages that don’t always make sense. It's a tough job, but she’s worth her weight in gold for the invaluable feedback she provides me. 

The merits of beta readers (people who read and offer feedback on a writers’ manuscript) are widely known, but having someone you trust read brand new pages can be equally valuable. 

(Here’s more on beta readers)

Alpha readers aren’t for everyone though, and getting feedback too early can hurt more than it helps. A good alpha reader/writer pairing is one that provides the right amount of guidance and feedback to work within your process to develop your idea, not direction how you ought to write your novel. Each writer will have their own definition of what “the right amount” means. For some, an alpha reader might: 

• Look at rough pages of a work in progress on a chapter by chapter basis
• Look at the entire first draft when it’s complete
• Look at a second draft that’s mostly fleshed out, but not yet polished

Benefits of Alpha Readers

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Read the full article HERE!

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If you missed my writing & marketing tweets and retweets yesterday, here they are again:

1. How to add value to a fiction book so you can sell more - Author Zoo http://ow.ly/LxvAS
2. The Cadence Group |  Has KDP Pre-order helped level the playing field for authors? http://ow.ly/LxvMd
3. But I'm A Writer - I Don't Need A Marketing Plan http://ow.ly/LxvVL
4. From Twitter to Business Partners: a #K8Chat Tale http://ow.ly/Lxwm8
5. As The World Gets Smaller, Authors’ Jobs Get Bigger | Thought Catalog http://ow.ly/LxwtQ
6. The Venn Diagram Stage of Writing | How To Write Shop http://ow.ly/LxwCE
7. Novel Rocket: Don't Wait for the Mood to Strike to Write! http://ow.ly/LxwPF
8. QueryTracker Blog http://ow.ly/LxwZG WHY AREN’T I GETTING REQUESTS?
9. The Declaration Every Great Writer Makes http://ow.ly/Lxx9A
10. Blogs | Suspense Author Ninie Hammon http://ow.ly/Lxxm0 Three ways to lead Amazon search bots to YOUR book.
11. Stress-Free Mingling Strategies And Conversation Starters For Writers At Conferences - Writer's Relief, Inc. http://ow.ly/LxxDW
12. How to Set Up Facebook Dynamic Product Ads | Social Media Examiner http://ow.ly/LxxLn
13. Fiction University: Should You Have an Alpha Reader? http://ow.ly/LxydW
14. Writer Unboxed » The Joy of Telling Other People’s Stories http://ow.ly/Lxz6V
15. Karen Woodward: Classic Design vs Minimal Design http://ow.ly/LxzfU
16. Why dichotomies don’t work in describing the writing process | Creative Writing with the Crimson League http://ow.ly/Lxzoq

Happy writing and running, Kathy