Beta Reading

Iron Horses, Beta Reader Emails, and Classic Being a Better Writer

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Hey folks. We’ve got some stuff to talk about today for the Friday news post, so won’t you pull up a chair? Or a round. Or even a sleeping pad. We’re not picky here. Bipedal, quadrupedal, or something else, all species welcome.

Okay, so what’s the writing news this week? What’s coming down the pipeline? Well, for starters, I began the second draft for my submission for Iron Horses in the Sky. Which closes at the end of this month. Again, you can find more details on submissions here on Hemelein’s site, but as to my story, after finishing the first draft I sat down and went over it and starting cutting, trimming, and rewriting to the point that it became a condensed “second draft” of the initial story. I even cut whole characters, narrowing the focus of this thing to really bring it down to the central tale.

What is this tale about, you might ask? Well, it’s set in the Axtara universe, though not staring everyone’s favorite dragoness. No, at this point she’d barely be out of the egg. So, what’s this tale concerning then?

It’s called Silver Streams and Kartesh Dreams, and concerns a trio of kartesh siblings (which, if you’ve read the series and know your lore, are the Axtara setting’s take on centaurs) who run a shipping company, hauling wagon loads between the Delarian cities of Beltan and Aster.

You know, exactly the sort of thing that might be disrupted by the arrival of the new railroad and it’s mighty ability to carry freight at speeds unheard of. How does this trio of siblings react to the arrival of the new guild, and what do they do? Well, to find out you’ll have to read the story. But if you’ve read some of my other works, you might guess that it’s something clever, with ulterior motives and hidden objectives.

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Three Dictionaries, Beta Reading, and Other News

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I’m going to try and keep this quick. I want to get back to Beta editing.

But yes, readers, your eyes have not deceived you. Beta editing! Axtara – Armies and Accounting is now in Beta! I finished the primary Alpha pass this last week, and I’ve spent the last two days doing pre-Beta work, which is still ongoing … But I sent the Beta Invites out yesterday anyway for the first Beta pass.

So yeah, we’re drawing one step closer to the release of the third Axtara book. As soon as I’ve gotten everything into the hands of the Beta Readers, I’ll also be reaching out to the cover artist of the first two books to start looking at figuring out what the cover might look like. Unlike the first two books, where I actually had a really strong concept for the cover long before I contacted Codie, I don’t really have an idea of what I want to feature on the cover of this one, so I’m going to have to work out a few possibilities to float and see what Codie likes the concept of.

Also, I am going to be looking at getting this installment of Axtara something else that’s been requested quite frequently: Maps! Yes, that’s a plural. A map of Elnacier (incomplete, obviously, so that later areas can be fleshed out as new books require, because I haven’t planned that far ahead) and also a map of the important areas of the continent.

Don’t worry, they’ll go up on the site too. Now, as to how I’m going to pay for all this? Haven’t figured that out yet. Maps aren’t free, and cover art definitely isn’t. My options are “Sell more books,” “quadruple Patreon support,” “kickstarter,” or “miracle.”

In other words, if you’re a fan of the series, keep letting the world know. Publishing as a whole is really struggling right now, for a multitude of reasons, but as an author, I’m in that struggle.

Now, on to happier news after that abrupt dose of reality.

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Editing, Editing, and Reader Calls: The News

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Well, this week has been a busy one. Which I will now recount to you as a form of … accountability? Honestly, I think that you guys appreciate knowing what I’m up to, and what sort of work I’m putting in. At the same time, it gives readers an idea of how much effort goes into something like getting a completed draft ready for publishing. Which is … well, a lot. My draft for The Phoenix declares that it was open for 115 hours of work. And that’s before the editing process started.

Basically, I want you guys to feel like “Hey, I’m doing stuff” (no gold swimming pool here, or even a pool), as well as be informed as what’s coming down the pipe.

So, first up, let’s talk about The Phoenix. The first Alpha Read is done! I went through all of it this week, make numerous changes and tweaks, which included both cuts and some small additions/enhancements. Now, does that mean it’s ready for Beta? Well … No. The changes I made were substantial enough, as with Blood Less Vile, that I want to make sure they add up in the proper way.

In other words, The Phoenix is getting an Alpha 2! And that means … Alpha Readers.

This also means that if you’ve Alpha Read before (but not read The Phoenix) you are strongly encouraged to reach out and contact me. At this point Gmail’s been such a problem that I can’t properly count on the old list being a great way to contact prior Alpha and Beta Readers anymore. A few that I have managed to get into contact with through other means have confirmed that they never saw the emails I sent, and if they were found were found to have been sent by Gmail right into the spam folder.

Granted, I had a similar problem a few months ago. I found that Gmail was sending, automatically, all emails noting the comments left on the Alphas and Betas, right to the spam folder. No questions asked. Then a few weeks ago, after fixing that problem, Gmail abruptly decided that such emails should no longer go to the “Updates” tab, but right to my main inbox, and again it took several forceful attempts to correct it before the change stuck.

Man, remember when the goal of computers and corporations was to be helpful?

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Still Need Beta Readers

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Hey readers, just dropping a small news post today. And the title sums it up.

Blood Less Vile still needs Beta Readers. I really can’t state it any more straightforwardly than that. It needs Beta Readers. People who want to give it a once over and put a highlight on any typos they find.

Now, this book isn’t riddled with them. Sands, if I released it as-is, most would probably find it better in quality than most publications out there. But I refuse to no let it have some quality passing by getting extra eyeballs on it to spot what I’ve missed.

Seriously, prior Beta Readers: Please check your inbox. If you did not receive your invite (despite all my attempts to circumvent Google declaring itself the source of spam) let me know.

Those who would like to check out Blood Less Vile early, let me know too. I can always use more Beta Readers, because it doesn’t hurt to have more eyes on a project.

Now, I know that doesn’t fully inoculate anything. There are typos and errors in the seventh printing of Jurassic Park I own. But there’s a difference between at least giving the novel a pass and not even trying. So yeah, I don’t want my eyes to be the only eyes looking for this stuff (and the Alpha Readers were preoccupied with other elements).

That, and I need to get this done so that Blood Less Vile can, you know, release. I don’t want to skip this step in the process.

If you want to Beta Read for it, please let me know.

“Blood Less Vile” Beta Calls Sent Out + Paperback Price Increases

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That’s right, it’s a mid-week news update! Not a big one, but it is of import. Basically, if you’re a prior Beta Reader, check your email inboxes (which, unfortunately, includes spam folders thanks to gmail being overly zealous against itself). Beta Calls for Blood Less Vile have gone out!

And well, as far as that news goes, that’s pretty much the long and the short of it. Beta Calls are out, and Blood Less Vile is almost here!

So, what’s this other bit of news then? Well, it’s … less than fantastic. But basically, paperback prices on at least one book—Axtara – Banking and Finance—but possibly more need to rise.

Why? Well, even before tariffs slammed down, which raised the cost of printing by about 25%, I had already set prices on Banking and Finance low. So low, in fact, that bookstores were stopping stocking them because their cut versus the print cost was too small to be worth the bother. Oh, and my cut for those sales was less than a penny. In fact, in one instance it was just a grand total of $0.00.

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Naming Things is Hard

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First up: Beta Emails have gone out to prior Beta Readers for Axtara 2! If you are a prior Beta Reader, check your email inbox!

Second, there’s a reason I called the Axtara sequel “Axtara 2” in the paragraph above. See, one of the bits of feedback given by the Alpha Reader crew was that the title I had picked, Magic and Mayhem, really didn’t work for them.

Upon reflection, as much as I like the title, they were right. It did work for some, but the problem was the latter half of the title. The “mayhem” bit. Mayhem, to them, spoke of a slightly different Axtara story, one that was less cozy but either more madcap or more action packed.

As I said, they were right. Magic and Mayhem was the perfect title. It flowed well. It rolled off the tongue. It was nicely alliterative.

But it didn’t quite fit the book. The genre is still Cozy YA Fantasy. It’s more Dealing with Dragons than The Hunger Games or Treasure Island.

So Axtara 2 is getting renamed. It’s keeping the “Magic and—” bit of the name, but “Mayhem” is getting swapped out for something else. I’m considering a couple of names right now that keep the cadence and alliteration, but in the meantime yes, the name is changing (note: I’ll still tag it as “Magic and Mayhem” along with the new title once I’ve fixed on it).

Oh, and just so we can all share a bit of a laugh, here’s a list of some rejected names that didn’t make it past screening for some reason, shared from the Discord.

Magic and McAdams
Magic and Maccabees
Magic and Macintosh
Magic and Maelstrom
Magic and Magellan
Magic and Maginot
Magic and Mahjong
Magic and Manatees
Magic and Mao Zedong
Magic and Maquis
Magic and Maserati
Magic and Merino
Magic and Misogyny
Magic and MIRVs
Magic and Mongooses
Magic and Mortars
Magic and Muslims
Magic and Mussolini
Magic and Muumuus

Now, as you consider what horrors might be unleased were some of those rejects actually the title, I’m going to go prep Axtara 2 for the Beta crowd. If you are interested in being a Beta Reader, watch this space! A public Beta Call will be up at the end of this week!

News and News

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Well, this is a news post. Though there isn’t too much to say, really. And I’m going to try and keep it short anyway because I want to blast through at least the first half of Starforge‘s Beta today (I’m only a few chapters from the halfway mark, so it’s a good goal).

Speaking of the Beta Read, I will be sending out another email to those on the Beta Reader list today as many didn’t reply to the last one. I’m not sure if the email tripped up spam filters because of its content, or if a number of prior Beta Readers have since dumped those addresses, but usually they reply fairly quickly with a positive or negative. If you were a prior Beta Reader and wondering where your invitation went, I promise you it was sent, but I’ll be sending another one for good measure just in case.

Other than that, Beta Reading proceeds as normal, though I do have a small, fun factoid for you. One common error in many books is accidentally swapping a quote mark at the start or close of a sentence with an apostrophe, usually because the finger slipped off the shift key or was mistimed. This is also a booger to spot, but thankfully CTRL+F makes it a bit easier to track down these days.

Anyway, as part of the Beta edit, I was dutifully checking the entire 500,000+ word length of Starforge for this error, one apostrophe+a letter at the time. And I found an interesting statistic to share with all of you. Of the roughly 27 or so occurrences of a quote marker being accidentally replaced by an apostrophe, over half of them were at the front of a sentence and when the starting letter of the sentence was a W.

Well, I found it interesting. I suppose it’s something to do with the rhythm of my fingers when I need both that quote mark and a capital W combined with the shift key.

In any case, all instances of it across the story are fixed now. But it still amused me.

Again, the most positive thing I have to report is that Starforge is quite a bit cleaner in comparison to Jungle or even Axtara, though Axtara was pretty clean. I’ll chalk that one up to improving fingers.

In other news, this weekend is General Conference for my faith, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and so I’m going to forgo a Starforge teaser post for tomorrow. Never fear, they’ll be back next weekend, and we might even start getting glimpses of the text itself.

I hope all of you have a fantastic weekend, and now for me back to editing!

The Starforge Beta Call

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Yes. That’s right folks. We’ve reached that moment. It’s here. My work on Strange Catch (filler title) wraps up today (I left off last week in the midst of the ending) so today I’ll be starting the last round of Alpha Edits to Starforge. Which means … Beta 1 time!

As with the Alpha, I’d like to get two rounds of Beta in. With 500,000 words, Starforge is a bit of a juggernaut. I know we’re bound to miss something—just look at the number of typos in your average 110,000 word Trad Pub publication to see exactly how tough finding every mistake can be—but I do want to get this as clean as possible before the release date.

Which isn’t set yet, mind. Still aiming for November, though. And we’re getting close to having a set date in place as well as a pre-order available.

Anyway, those of you that have Beta’d before, it’s time to rise up. E-mails will be going out this week!

If you’ve not Beta read before but would like to try, keep an eye out, then leave a comment below and we can get in touch. Beta Reading, for those unfamiliar with the process, is what a lot of people think of when they think “editing.” This post goes into more detail (just jump down to the section on Beta Editing), but the gist of it is that this is where you’re looking for typos, incorrect homophones, extra spaces, missing dialog tags … the works. This is the fine-tuning, the catching of out-of-place letters or missing words or any of that stuff.

And it’s starting very soon. So, if you’re interested and have been a Beta Reader before, watch your inbox. If you’ve never Beta Read before but would like to try, leave a comment!

We’re inching closer and closer, people. Starforge is nearly upon us!

Now, I’ve got to get back to it!

Being a Better Writer: What to do While Waiting for Feedback

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Welcome back readers! I hope you had an enjoyable weekend! It was (mostly) a quiet one for me, though I did have family over to make enchiladas on Sunday (so nice and hot) which was an absolute blast.

So, what’s new with the news real quick? Well, we had the sale last week, and that went pretty well. Hopefully those of you who wanted to fill out your collections took the chance! Other news? Well, the first draft of Starforge is almost at 100,000 words, and once the latest chapter is done, I’ll be taking a day or two to blitz through the Beta 1 of Axtara – Banking and Finance and get that one step closer to publication. As well as take care of a few other things … But I’ll hold on news about those bit and bobs until they arrive.

So then, that’s the news and—wait, I almost forgot something. This post? It’s the last topic from Topic List #15. I’ve noted for a few weeks now that we’re running up to the end of this list, and that one should make ready their topic suggestions for list #16. That post will drop Wednesday, so definitely be ready!

Okay, that’s it! No more news! It’s time to talk writing! Or rather, what to do when you’ve stopped writing for a brief moment. Because today, readers, we’re tackling a long-requested reader topic and talking about what too do while waiting for that fickle beast of fickle beasts.

Feedback.

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