September 2 question - If you could choose one author, living or dead, to be your beta partner, who would it be and why?
The first thought I had was to define beta partner:
- #AtoZchallenge Beta Readers vs. Critique Partners (Operation Awesome post by Amren)
"Beta readers are, first and foremost, readers. They look at your manuscript as if it were a book they just took off the shelf and aim to answer the question “What did you think?” They are big-picture readers, focusing more on the feel of the manuscript than the nitty-gritty of grammar and phrasing."
"A beta reader is usually a test reader of an unreleased work of literature or other writing, who gives feedback from the point of view of an average reader to the author."
- Questions to ask your critique partners and/or beta readers (Operation Awesome post by Dena)
"A beta reader is a reader, usually one who reads in your genre and is a member of your target audience, who gives you feedback based on a reader's perspective, not a writer's perspective."
My next thought was to look at an Amazon list for books in the same selling category:
Best Sellers in New Adult & College Fantasy
Vampires, werewolf/shifters, witches, detectives, academy -- none of these will match well with what I've written.
David Estes seems promising. Though the Fatemarked series doesn't seem to be an urban fantasy.
Maybe I should look at what other categories Amazon has book 1 of my series in right now?
Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
- #10763 in Superhero Science Fiction
- #18177 in Fairy Tale Fantasy (Kindle Store)
- #6031 in Superhero Fantasy eBooks
Well, that gives me some more options. (Though Fractions of Existence really isn't a Fairy Tale.)
I didn't write about teenage witches.
As usual, I don't feel like my series is similar enough to any other books in my categories.
So I'm going with an author that has a series I like. Though what we've written isn't overly similar, there's enough in common with our characters that I believe she'd "get" what I'm trying to do.
🎉Victoria Aveyard is my answer for the September 2020 IWSG question of what author I would choose to be my beta partner. 🏆 (Especially for future books in my Existence series.)
The September Co-Hosts are:
Natalie Aguirre http://www.literaryrambles.com/
Kim Lajevardi http://kimlajevardi.com/
Louise - Fundy Blue http://selkiegrey4.blogspot.com/
Deniz Bevan http://thegirdleofmelian.blogspot.com/
PJ Colando https://pjcolandoblog.com/
J Lenni Dorner https://jlennidorner.blogspot.com/ Hey, that's me! 😎
Much love to our leader:
Alex J. Cavanaugh
http://alexjcavanaugh.com/
http://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/
The Insecure Writer's Support Group Book Club group is reading this book in August/September. I've rarely seen my fellow Native Americans written well, so I'm somewhat curious about the book.
And don't forget that the IWSG Annual Anthology Contest closes today!
Genre: Science Fiction
Theme: Dark Matter
Submissions close on September 2, 2020
And if you have a query letter, check out Operation Awesome for #PassOrPages this month. Last one of 2020.
If you know a 2020 debut author, have them contact me. 10 interview spaces left this year!
