APPLY TO DO
UNPAID WORK
The beta-reader programme is an exclusive opportunity to receive, at no cost whatsoever, a book that is already available to everyone at no cost whatsoever (unless they decide to purchase it at a higher price than zero).
In return, you do noticeably more work than people who never applied.
What you get
A candid comparison
| Everyone | You | |
|---|---|---|
| The complete book, at a price you choose, including nothing | ✓ | ✓ |
| Every future chapter, at that same generous price | ✓ | ✓ |
| The unfinished draft, readable on this site as it is written | · | ✓ |
| Homework | · | ✓ |
| Being asked how a paragraph made you feel | · | ✓ |
| Unsolicited replies from the author | · | ✓ |
| The quiet suspicion you are being studied | · | ✓ |
| Personal mention in the final, printed book. If it ever gets printed, that is. | · | ✓ |
| Access to the secret inner-circle. Not a cult. | · | ✓ |
| Responsibility for whether this book ever gets finished | · | ✓ |
You may notice the first two rows are identical. That is not an error. Two of the rows below them are arguably advantages, which was not the original plan. The rest have resisted every attempt to describe them as one.
The honest part
A book written alone, with nobody reading it, tends to quietly stop being written. That is the actual reason this programme exists.
You would be reading unfinished chapters, telling me where you got bored, and occasionally saying something kind at the exact moment it is needed. In exchange you get the book, my attention, and a say in what it becomes.
That is the whole offer. It is not a good deal. Some people want it anyway.
The application
Two questions. Both are real.
You have applied.
One thing happened immediately: the whole draft is now unlocked in this browser, and it stays that way. Everything else takes its time. At some point an email arrives from a real person who read what you wrote, which is both a promise and a warning.
Read the draftYou have three of these
Pass on the uselessness
Three links. Each one lets somebody else volunteer for the same amount of unpaid work. Whether that counts as a gift is between you and them.
If somebody applies through your link, I will know it was you. That is the only thing this tracks.
Not convinced? Reasonable. Read chapter one, free or take the whole book for whatever you think it is worth