Crklyn Publishing · Volunteer readers
Reader Advisory Board
Every book needs someone who reads it before the world does.
Our Reader Advisory Board is a community of volunteer beta readers who read our authors' manuscripts before publication and tell them honestly how the book landed. For a woman writing her first book — often about the hardest parts of her own life — that response is the difference between guessing and knowing.
What a beta reader does
Read a full manuscript before it is published, the way an ordinary reader would
Say where you were moved, bored, lost, or pulled out of the story
Flag what didn't land — a chapter that drags, a character who disappears, an ending that arrives too fast
Answer a short set of questions the author and our editor prepare for that book
Return your notes by an agreed date, so the author can revise on schedule
What it isn't
Not proofreading — spelling and commas are handled later, by an editor
Not a review — nothing you write is published, and nothing leaves our team
Not a critique of the writer's life — the book is what's under discussion
Not an obligation every month — you read when a manuscript matches you, and you can always pass
The commitment
Time
Roughly one manuscript per quarter, though it depends on how many books are in progress and what you've told us you can take on
Where
Entirely remote — read wherever you are, on your own schedule
Confidentiality
Manuscripts are unpublished and private. Readers agree not to share, quote, or post any part of what they read.
Who can join
Anyone who reads carefully and can be honest and kind at the same time. No editorial background required.
Apply to read
Tell us a little about how you read. We match readers to manuscripts by genre and by what each author needs, so the more you share, the better the fit.