I’m not sure what phase the moon is in right now, but I’m in beta reader phase! 🌝
Authors use beta readers to get feedback on their book once it’s been through rounds of editing but is still open to edits.
If you’re subscribed to my newsletter, I bet you’re my ideal reader type: lovers of fairy tales and folklore, readers of fairytale-inspired fantasy, and feminist fans of patriarchy-smashing fiction!
My book Ebony, Blood, and Snow: New Stories from Old Tales finally has an official description:
How did Snow White’s mother become so vain? What if Cinderella didn’t go to the ball? When does the maiden become the monster?
Inspired by familiar fairy tales, author Tish Black’s debut short story collection takes the tales in new directions and rewrites history: Little Red hunts wolves, Gretel helps the witch, and Bluebeard’s wife gets revenge. These transgressive stories challenge readers’ ideas of what the tales could mean to them. There’s more to learn from fairy tale heroines than how to be eaten, rescued, or married.
These unconventional heroines fight the patriarchy with no time for romance; instead, readers will find tales of revenge, sisterhood, political revolt, and independence. In the lead story, a beautiful woman with hair as black as ebony is given to a king with blood-red lips, but it’s with her chambermaid that she finds true love. When tragedy strikes, her values change. Exploring why Snow White’s mother chose beauty over her daughter, “Ebony” leads to her decision to send the huntsman. In “Thistle,” a princess cursed to sleep lives a lonely life until the witch who cursed her reveals the true story of what her parents have done to them both. Rapunzel escapes the tower on her own in “Plum” and then joins a radical group trying to take down a misogynist monarchy.
Conveying the radical feminism of Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber and the defiance of Emma Donoghue’s Kissing the Witch, Black’s collection of thirteen tales redefines the fairy tale heroine.
If that description makes you feel like this:
then you might want to be a beta reader!
My beta readers are not editing or proofreading. My beta reading phase is more of a vibe check; I want to see feedback and reactions from my ideal readers to make sure my stories are hitting right.
If you were to be a beta reader for me, I would first and foremost be ever-so-grateful, then send you a link to a Google folder containing the manuscript doc that you can comment on and a feedback doc that you can edit. My manuscript is 44,000 words, which is almost half a novel. That’s about 4.5-7 hours, depending on your reading speed. Completing the feedback questions could take a few minutes to an hour, depending on how much you want to say. I plan on sending beta readers their copies on July 29 and would like to receive their feedback by August 16.
If that sounds like something you’d like to do, send me an email at tishblackwrites@gmail.com to let me know!
That’s all I’ve got to say for now— I’ve got to get back to these final edits and write an introduction before Monday!
TGIF and happy weekend to us all!
P.S. Beta readers will also get to see my cover design, the official book playlist, and be gifted a signed paperback copy!