Beta Reading

Posted 23rd July 2014 by Emma in Blog Birthday, Giveaway / 0 Comments

Today is the last birthday post. I know your all very sad but I have saved the best til last.

The best thing I have agreed to since starting my blog was to be one of Aven’s Beta Readers or as she likes to call us Beta Baes.

Aven emailed me waaaay back in August 2013. I’d set up an email address for the blog which was still pretty new and to be honest I wasn’t expecting anyone to send me an email so I forgot to check it for a few weeks. Then low and behold Aven had sent me an email (which I still have) asking if I would read and review her debut novel, Connectivity. I was honoured that she had asked me and I loved the sound of the book so I jumped at the chance. I read it almost instantly but held off posting my review until I release day.I also featured William in one of my Man Candy Monday posts, I mean how could I not the man has everything!

After posting my review Aven sent me a lovely email thanking me and how happy she that I had “got the book for exactly what it was” and so began a great friendship based on men and cat names. Aven asked me if I would review some more of her books that were due to be about in the coming months I had loved Connectivity so much that I couldn’t say no. After an exchange of many emails, mainly on men and cats Aven asked if I would become a beta reader for her. Now although I got the just of that that would be I wasn’t quite sure what it would entail so I did some research and I knew that I just had to say yes and that was the best decision I have ever made. Period.

I absolutely LOVE being a beta reader. I get an email at least once a week sometimes twice with the next chapter. It’s like my weekly TV shows I get a fed a little bit of information at a time. I also love helping Aven ‘research’. From helping with men inspiration, which is a tough job but someone has to trawl through those pictures of hot men and find the one that reminds you of the character, to inspiration on courses and places the characters can visit, I love it all. I have a rubbish imagination but if someone gives me an idea I’m pretty good at the research part. When I told Aven I was going to do a post on this she said she would send me a piece on what I mean to her and I could use it as I wish and I wanted to share it with you as it made me the happiest girl alive.

Aven Says:

Last July I began my journey in seeking book reviews for my debut novel, Connectivity. Keep in mind prior to signing a book contract I didn’t know this world of book bloggers existed. Blogs where people talked about books, reviewed them, made Top Ten lists of their favorites? This was all new to me, and a really exciting world to discover.

So off to work I went, trying to find book bloggers who might want to read a chick lit novel by an unknown author. And on August 17 I found Emma. (I still have that email, by the way.) I immediately felt a connection to her blogging style and sent off an email, hopeful that she would respond.

And she did! Emma graciously agreed to read and review my book. She gave it a wonderful review, and I was so excited to read her thoughts on the book. But then she gave me an absolute FIRST: Emma made William Cumberland, my hero in Connectivity, a Man Candy Monday Feature. When I saw it, I was so shocked. She picked William. Someone I created. It was a milestone moment for me, and I’ll never, ever forget how thrilled I was when I saw that feature on Chicklit vs. Fantasy.

Emma gave me another first in putting Connectivity on her Top Ten Reads of 2013. Again, another milestone for me, and something I will always be grateful for.

But more than milestones, I’ve been blessed to get to know Emma on a personal level through our conversations in email and on Twitter. She is truly a beautiful woman, both inside and out, and someone I trust and admire. So much so I put her on my Beta Baes team, the group of women who read my works in progress and help me stay on track and motivated to keep writing. But Emma is not only a Beta Reader, but a dear friend, and I look forward to our daily interactions across the pond.

So Emma, congratulations on your milestone achievement. I’m so happy to be a part of your journey here, and look forward to many years of books and friendship to come.

Xo Aven