A new publisher, a new publishing tool, and a coupon for it!

I am always on the lookout for new publishers or new imprints of established publishers because they are hungry for new authors, new voices, unrepresented writers, independent authors interested in partnering with a publisher to reach a larger audience. Not only have I found one, but that publisher also gave me a valuable tip that I'm passing along to you. And it comes with a coupon code!

Here is that helpful snippet from the most recent email newsletter from CamCat Publishing, that gives you helpful links to learn more about them, an intro to a great new tool (if it works), and that coupon code I mentioned:

Currently, we’re actively looking for genre fiction. Stay tuned for announcements on our website, or via our social media handles: Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

New Tools For Authors

I had the opportunity to spend some time with the folks at BetaBooks.co, a service that helps authors locate and manage beta readers for their books. Cofounder Pam Burleson describes the service best:

BetaBooks provides an easy, secure way for authors to share their manuscripts and build relationships with their beta readers. Simply upload your manuscript to the website, invite readers to view, then respond to reader feedback directly in your book, live or after the fact. When you're done, deactivate your book and readers will no longer have access, while you take the time you need to organize your feedback and assess whether your book is reaching its target audience. No more copies of your book floating around unsupervised, no more hunting through emails or 10 different docs for that one super-helpful comment, and no more wondering whether your readers are actually making it through your book.

Pam has given us the coupon code CamCat for 20% off any BetaBooks.co subscription. You can also check the service out for free.

Sue Arroyo does not mind if we use her coupon code ourselves— it just gives CamCat credit with BetaBooks as having referred us to them! And it gives us 20% off a service that just might be well worth the price. Which, by the way, is about $120 per year for a modestly-sized invitation list of beta readers, and about twice that for unlimited "pro" access.

I think most of you who are receiving this directly will fall into the modest category. In fact, you might be having trouble pulling together some beta readers for your hopefully-soon-to-be-released book... you might even be wondering "what the heck is a beta reader?!" Don't worry. I'll be posting something on the Wordsmith blog about this soon. Meanwhile, Paul Kilpatrick has a super helpful article, albeit one that does not define the term. Go here for a detailed description of what a beta reader ought to be and do.

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