How to sincerely ask someone for help as a writer.
There are many places in which you will need help as a writer. The myth of the lone artist is just that a myth. We all are going to need help at some point or another when it comes to questions about writing, find beta readers, arc readers, and reviews for your novel. Today we are going to cover a few ways to ask and find help.
We all have questions when it comes to writing whether it is for research or publishing questions on how to best go about getting a literary agent. Your best bet is to find writer groups. A quick search on Facebook will garner hundreds of groups and pages you can join. Here are a few I can recommend.
The number one to ask for what you want is to of course ask politely. Remember email and post etiquette. Try your best to make sure you ask for something as clearly as possible.
How to find beta readers and what questions you could ask them about your novel.
First off what are beta readers, these are readers who get to read a draft of your novel and give feedback on aspects of your novel like; dialog, relationships, plot twists, the hook and the conclusion. I will be doing a web course on how to run a beta read that practically runs itself this year.
Where to find beta readers? Ask your blog readers, author group members, friends and family members, and ask in any writers groups you are in, especially if you join some writers groups that are tied to your genre.
What questions to ask the readers? Here are a few ideas to get you started.
Where there any plot holes that you are aware of?
What would you like to see that I didn’t include?
Where there areas that seemed bogged down?
What did you like?
What didn’t you like?
How to ask people to review your novel or be arc readers?
What is an arc reader? Arc stands for advanced reader copy. Essentially you give readers a free copy of your novel either right before your book is published or slightly after, these readers agree to read your novel and post reviews on sites that you ask them to publish the reviews like; Amazon, GoodReads, and personal blogs. You can usually search for these readers in a similar way you asked for beta readers.
Often the best way anyone can help you as an author is to leave you a review, especially in this age of algorithms. I highly recommend that you take the time and create author profiles on major social media sites, take the time to research basic social media marketing and create a following before your novel is finished. This following will be your best asset.
I hope you learned some ideas on how and where to ask for help with your writing and author platform, that we debunked the myth of the lone artist for you. If you have any suggestions I would love to hear them, just leave a comment below.
I will be giving a class on April 20th on How to make Haiku easy in the Arlington area of North Texas, drop by and see me. I am also in talks for some writer workshops this summer. Check my calendar of events on the home page.
How is your Bookish Bingo going?
Here is what I am currently reading?
See you soon, don’t forget that every Tuesday I live stream my Author Talks with Shirley Crow on Facebook at 7pm CST and Instagram at 7:30pm CST, stop by and say hi I like to see you.
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