beta readers – Page 3 – Norma J. Hill

Time for another update on my “Summerland Stories” book! So far, since I started this project on October 9^th (not including all the stories I wrote one at a time over the past 20 years or so), I’ve put 120+ hours into it: editing, additional writing, marketing research and activities, platform building, discussions with people, and so on. It’s truly been an adventure.

Since I completed most of my 4^th draft on November 19^th until today, November 30, I:

Created and edited my Summerland Stories Author’s Note
Made a list of questions for feedback I’d like from my beta readers; then sent off the manuscript to five people who volunteered to beta read (allowing them about 6 weeks to do the reading and jot down their thoughts)
(Took a day off to sew a new dress—creative activity—and a couple days off to do some needed repairs/updates on my laptop and my husband’s desktop computer. And I took a ride with my husband up in the hills on a rare sunny day to admire and be inspired by the beautiful snowy mountain landscape—more creative activity when I was feeling a bit blah!)
Went through my computer to gather all my Summerland Stories files and photos (scattered all over, LOL!), then sort and compare them, deleting quite a lot of doubles
Started reading from Self Publishing in Canada by Suzanne Anderson; realized the first edition copy I had was rather outdated, so I ordered a new (3^rd edition) copy and read it instead
Started re-reading (after several years!) Create Your Writer Platform by Chuck Sambuchino and started putting some of his advice into action
Did a lot of online research related to the history of Summerland and Summerland stories which others have written (and I discovered when I googled “Summerland Stories” that there is a series of fiction books under that title that take place in England!)
Joined and/or explored a number of relevant Summerland organizations and history-related societies, museums, individuals, etc., with the intention of going to meet them in person, get to know them, take part in some of their activities, and hopefully be able to market my book through some of them. Then I made a document of links related to Summerland history so I can quickly and easily refer to them as needed during this project. When I chatted with Ken Gray in Summerland, he asked me what else similar to my project has already been published—and what Summerland businesses and organizations I will be contacting … which is what got me going on this aspect of the project! Thanks, Ken!
I already belonged to two Summerland history Facebook groups and have participated in them to some degree in the past; now I scrolled through and added other relevant comments, photos, etc. One of the group admins even offered me the opportunity to market the book in their group when it is ready. The groups are: Summerland Open History & Hometown Memories Project and Summerland BC – Hometown Memories
Updated my Goodreads account and get ready to start using it again (reviews, etc.) after a long time away from it https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/7809377-norma-j-hill
Listened to some radio broadcasts and podcasts related to writing and publishing. One I found particularly useful was on CBC Ideas – the 2024 Beatty Lecture – interviewing Conal Creedon, a major award-winning storyteller/writer from Cork, Ireland. You can listen to the interview here … And I then listened to it again and took notes, which I’ll share in my next update in this series! My husband, who I didn’t think was particularly interested in all of this, turned out to be listening while sitting at his computer playing Solitaire, and when it was over, he mentioned how interested he found it!

So, what do you think? Are any of the activities I’m doing this Summerland Stories project giving you ideas you can apply to your writing and publishing projects? What other ideas can you share with us?

Please, please add your thoughts to the comments section! Thank you!

Norma J. Hill

a pen and paper mama site

Category: beta readers

Summerland Stories 5: Beta reads, platform, marketing plans

Share this: