How to Read for Free

You’ve just finished a great book! Now, you’re on the prowl for that next great historical fantasy, but you check your bank account. Payday is still a week away, and books are expensive, so you, like so many of the authors you read, are flat broke. Your book collection will never forgive you if you don’t add to it. The BOOK GODS demand their sacrificial offering (sacrifice being your hard-earned money and difficult to find shelf space). What do you do?

Well, you’re in luck! It’s actually quite easy to get free reading material, if you’re savvy about it. Kidding, of course. You don’t have to be all that savvy. You just have to know how to do it. So I’m going to tell you exactly that: how to read for free. But there’s a catch. You see, I’m an author, so I’m going to make sure that the ways I give you are ways that will help the author community! Without further delays, here are three ways.

Become an Alpha Reader

An alpha reader is someone the author can trust after they’ve finished writing, but before a professional editor gets their hands on the book (often times even before the writer does their self-edit round). The purpose of this type of reader is to find any huge plot holes or gaps, and also to tell the author if the novel should ever see the light of day. I kid, but not really. You see, we authors are always so deep into the material, we don’t necessarily know if the novel is any good by the time we finish. Before we shell out $2,000 to $3,000 dollars to get an editor to go over the thing with a fine-toothed comb, we have to know if what we thought was the most amazing idea ever is, in fact, any good. That’s where you come in. This is probably the easiest reader job in the world.

Pros: You get to be one of the very first to see a brand-spanking-new novel. And this is where you can truly influence how the book comes out. Good authors take feedback very seriously.

Cons: You may have to put up with the writer’s overuse of em-dashes and consistent mixing-up of “their”, “they’re”, and “there.”

How to do it: Sign up for a few of your favorite authors’ email lists. Mine is on my website, just scroll down on that first page. Usually, they’ll need an alpha reader just after finishing a novel’s first (or third) draft.

Become a Beta Reader

Whoa, isn’t that just the same as an alpha-reader? No. Actually, a beta reader is someone who reads the book prior to publication, but usually after the book has been self-edited at the very least (read: less em-dashes). By this point, the author is probably feeling monumentally depressed because they’ve just finished seeing all of the horrible problems they’ve left in their rough draft, and they probably want to burn the book. Don’t let them. But don’t sugar coat anything either.

A beta reader must read the entire novel, and give feedback on how things which may be missing, plot holes, characters who probably don’t need to exist—that sort of thing (see the em-dash?). Okay, so maybe it is sort of like an alpha reader, but you get a much cleaner copy of the manuscript.

Pros: Aside from just freebies, you get to read a copy of the manuscript that’s been at least reasonably edited. So if you’re the type of person who cringes at every em-dash, then possibly, you’ll want to forego the alpha-reader phase and skip straight to being a beta-reader.

Cons: Still won’t be perfect. But it’ll be nicer than the alpha reader experience.

How to do it: Sign up for your favorite authors’ newsletters and when they ask, reply and let them know you’re interested. Seeing a pattern here?

Review an Advanced Review Copy

If you’re a perfectionist and you absolutely can’t abide stumbling over an em-dash, then you’ll probably want to get an Advanced Review Copy. This is an actual copy of the novel as it will be released. The ask here is that you go leave a review somewhere where it will benefit the author. Whether that’s the ever-present and deity-like Amazon, goddess of the books, or on their favorite sales platform, reviews are like gold for authors, and you’ll be asked for one if you accept an Advanced Review Copy (commonly called ARC).

Pros: If you want a clean manuscript, this is your best bet. Good authors wait until after their novel is professionally edited to provide an ARC. Also, if you want to help the most, reviews are social proof and go a long way for authors.

Cons: You have to wait until the novel is back from the editor. Usually the novel will be available for alpha-reading first, then beta-reading, then finally ARC. So ARCs aren’t always readily available from authors, but any individual author may have one (or in my case, 4) work(s) in progress.

How to do it: Say it with me folks - sign up for your favorite authors’ mailing lists. But you can also sign up for giveaways Both LibraryThing and Goodreads have giveaways, but Goodreads charges authors for theirs so I’d suggest going to LibraryThing, but either way, the implication is that you will leave a review

Author’s note:

Do not accept a copy of a novel without leaving a review. Reviews are money for authors, and they need them like breathing.

Also, note that these categories are pretty fluid. For example, I have two novels that are basically ready for alpha reading (DRIFT—horror genre) and beta reading (The Witch of the Isle—historical fantasy) that I’ve provided for folks, asking for reviews today. Neither are ARC, but but hey, I did say I’d show you how to get free books! And…here are two!

Seriously though, if you play your cards right, then you should have no problem getting free novels to read. The number one take-away here is if you sign up to your favorite (or even a new) authors’ newsletters, then you’ll find that they throw free books at you!