"Good topic Jenni. Here I thought I knew what a beta was, which I guess I did, but funny thing is I extrapolated that an alpha would be a second set of eyes before you hit beta. Probably comes from my involvement in the game industry (where they have alpha and beta stages before going Gold - i.e. Done). Though perhaps that isn't wrong if you have someone go over stuff before you're done with the first draft.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Beta Reader? What's that?
Good post by fellow aspiring author Jenni Bailey on her blog: http://jennibailey.com/2009/10/21/beta-reading-part-one/ with a comment from me copied below in response:
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Dictionary Dork - An embarrassing memory
The other day I was hit with a bit of nostalgia, thinking back to the "glory" days of Middle School *shudder*. I'll share it for your amusement, or perhaps so you feel a little better knowing that you are not the only socially akward one out there.
I remember back to Mr. Cuthbertson's Social Studies class - possibly World History, I'm not sure (strange I remember his name, I can't recall the name of any other teachers from Middle School). He asked us to define a word/concept, I rose my hand to answer and forever changed my perception of the man though it wasn't really his fault - you see up to that point I had found him to be a cool and knowledgeable teacher. In response to my definition to the now forgotten word, he replied something to the effect of, "Wow, that sounds straight out of the dictionary." Though it wasn't in fact. I realized as soon as he started to speak that I had made a grievous error.
I remember back to Mr. Cuthbertson's Social Studies class - possibly World History, I'm not sure (strange I remember his name, I can't recall the name of any other teachers from Middle School). He asked us to define a word/concept, I rose my hand to answer and forever changed my perception of the man though it wasn't really his fault - you see up to that point I had found him to be a cool and knowledgeable teacher. In response to my definition to the now forgotten word, he replied something to the effect of, "Wow, that sounds straight out of the dictionary." Though it wasn't in fact. I realized as soon as he started to speak that I had made a grievous error.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Writers Beware
Good note by Victoria Strauss about your search for a publisher, and the perils of doing so in the internet age: http://www.sfwa.org/2009/10/victoria-strauss-the-perils-of-searching-for-publishers-on-the-internet/
I haven't done any publisher searching myself (yet), but I have done a fair amount of reading on the subject, and though it can be a contentious subject for some I don't think anyone can argue that getting sucked in by a vanity press (aka self published) such as Publish America is less ideal than going the traditional route. Some less read on the subject may not realize that vanity presses allow a writer to essentially get their book published whether it is a good or bad story, well edited or grammatically and thematically appalling. This may sound fantastic to some, but unless you just want to share your book with some friends and family, don't go there. Main reasons from what I have read is:
I haven't done any publisher searching myself (yet), but I have done a fair amount of reading on the subject, and though it can be a contentious subject for some I don't think anyone can argue that getting sucked in by a vanity press (aka self published) such as Publish America is less ideal than going the traditional route. Some less read on the subject may not realize that vanity presses allow a writer to essentially get their book published whether it is a good or bad story, well edited or grammatically and thematically appalling. This may sound fantastic to some, but unless you just want to share your book with some friends and family, don't go there. Main reasons from what I have read is:
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