Call for beta readers

Some of you know I’m working on a book.

You know this because I’ve talked about it here and on the podcast Liston Witherill and I do together, I’ve blown deadlines, set more self-imposed deadlines that I’ve then blown again, whinged about the difficulty of it all, and in general been a source of much authorial sound and fury, but not a source of a new book.

At least, not yet!

I’m closer, though. 🙂

At the risk of more authorial sound and fury, I am making progress. The book publishing accountability group I set up earlier this year has been helpful. Proof:

I have a pretty solid beta version of the book. I wonder if you’d like to be a beta reader?

I’ve been hacking through the underbrush of this project with a dull machete. I need a birds-eye view now. As a beta reader, you help me get that missing birds-eye view.

If you did a beta read of this book, I’d ask you for pretty high-level feedback, like:

  • What could be explained better? (the curse of knowledge is real, people!)
  • What seems like it could be cut?
  • Does the book give you what you need to successfully specialize?
  • If not, what might be missing?

I’m specifically looking for beta readers who have not yet specialized, but are curious about it or planning on doing it soon. I’m looking for specialization-curious generalists. 🙂

If you become a beta reader, I can send you a PDF or a printed version of the book (Kinkos-level printing w/spiral binding). The book is not smol. The draft is at about 58,000 words, which translates to about 90 double-sided, single-spaced letter-size pages with a wide side margin. My editing software estimates this is a 5-hour read. Finally, if you do become a beta reader, I’m asking that you try to meet a timeline of a 2-week turnaround for your feedback (mailing time not included).

I don’t know if interest in this will be large or small, so let’s just use this quick form I set up in Airtable to let me know if you’re interested in doing me this favor: https://airtable.com/shrAo3oP7IdpMwhxV

I hope you have a restful-as-possible weekend,

-P