25 Comments
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S.H. Schreiber's avatar

This was fascinating and inspiring.

Diana Urban's avatar

I'm so glad! Thank you!

The Quirky Illustrator's avatar

Love this Diana!! Thank you for sharing!

Diana Urban's avatar

You're welcome! Thanks for commenting! 🥰

Breanna G's avatar

This was very helpful. I've never heard of StoryOrigin before and having been using multiple google docs for betas for ever which I love because I can always see the feedback in google where I'm drafting, and don't lose their notes. But it is a lot of file management. This seems so much simpler! Thank you for sharing!

Liz Pride's avatar

Wow this was fascinating. I'd never heard of story original and will definitely consider that for my 2nd manuscript. Thank you for sharing all this.

Wendy Patterson's avatar

Thank you, Diana! I needed to read this exact post at this exact time. Looking forward to reading the next two posts in this series. I like your writing style!

Catherine Leigh-McCallum's avatar

Thank you Diana. For someone yet to publish a novel, I found this very educational!

Sorcerers & Spaceships's avatar

Very helpful. Thanks for sharing.

Wajad R. Basha's avatar

I did some beta reading in the past few months and I should say, it really helped me so much as a writer. It is a great way of finding plot holes in my own manuscript as much as helping others see theirs.

Ahmad Julian Chippendale's avatar

Thank you so much for sharing this. Really looking forward to Part 3!

L.G. O'Connor's avatar

Diana, Great post and brilliant process (which I plan to replicate in the future!) I really enjoyed being part of your beta team. Thank you for the opportunity, and I look forward to parts 2 & 3 😉

Diana Urban's avatar

Thank you so much for being part of my team, I'm humbled and grateful that you took the time to help me. 🥹 Part 2 is up now! https://substack.dianaurban.com/p/running-beta-reader-team-self-published-book Hoping to get to part 3 in the next couple of weeks. [imagine that GIF of a cat typing furiously here lol]

L.G. O'Connor's avatar

Ah! Thanks for the heads up 😻

Irene 𝘑𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘞𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦's avatar

Thank you for sharing this. 🙏😊💛

John J. Maurer's avatar

That sounds a bit much to manage. Be sure to go with what the majority say and do not pacify the minority, especially at the expense of your voice or plot.

The Arcitect's avatar

Thank you so much for sharing this information. I was having no luck finding beta readers before I started sharing my work here. I'm still not confident in my writing and definitely want a beta reader at least once before I try to query. 😅

sierra elmore's avatar

Amazing article and process; thank you so much for sharing!

Hack Of All Trades's avatar

Great to read about your experience as I’m planning to get some beta readers together very soon. Thanks!

Kathryn Clark's avatar

Thank you for sharing this.