Invitation to join our YA beta reader teams

Would you like to be in one of our books? If you join the beta reader team and are selected for a book then you get a chance to read and comment on an edited but not-yet released book (you can read a paperback or eBook edition — your choice).  We’re looking for comments about anything that stands out as wrong for you, especially typos and unfamiliar idiom.

As a thank you, we will send you a copy of the paperback when published, with your name in the list of acknowledgements for beta reader team members.

We’ve done this several times now with our adult Greyhart Press books. Team members have used their unique breadth of perspectives to point out issues that editors and authors hadn’t considered, and the beta readers have enjoyed the experience and having a book with their name on to put on the shelf. Quite a few of you have asked to be included in future reads, so I guess we must be doing something right.

We’re now extending this for our new young adult imprint, The Repository of Imagination, with two books: The US version of Crank Tech One: Destruction by Colin R. Parsons, and both the US and UK versions of Alien Legends: A Selection from the Repository of Imagination by Gill Shutt.

It is with these first two books that we will properly launch our Repository imprint, although we have plenty more planned, including projects with schools where the kids will be able to post their own stories under pen-names  and get rewards in the form of bonus stories. Some of our Greyhart Press books are definitely not for children, so we will be moving our YA stories to a new site: ATaleForATale.com

There are some explanations of how the beta system works here. If you’re interested, please leave a comment (anywhere on the site), tweet (@GreyhartPress) or email (editors@greyhartpress.com). Sorry, but US, UK, and Canada only please, unless you’re happy to receive an eBook of the published version or we’ve already discussed this.

Here’s something about the two books.

Crank Tech One: Destruction by Colin R. Parsons

Crank Tech One

Synopsis: Tim Bailey is an author who needs a model to promote his new Sci-fi novel. He eventually finds his character Crank Tech One at Andy’s Sci-fi auction. But writing about a renegade robot and actually owning one are two different things. When his plans go wrong, what can he do? Can his younger brother, David help him, or are they both in way above their heads? SOME ROBOTS SHOULD BE LEFT WELL ALONE…

Style/ Genre: YA action/ adventure. With a robot running amok in Cardiff city centre, what’s not to like? The shoppers think it’s just another Doctor Who shoot, but this robot is for real…

The threat level is hyper, and there is some mild violence, but suitable for 10-14 year olds. A bit like Doctor Who in that respect.

Language: American English, though the setting is in Wales. There is a British English version too, which has already been published.

Length: 51,000 words — YA novel.

Similar authors/ works: Doctor Who

Timescale: There’s no need to rush with this. We will be publishing shortly before Christmas, which is tight. But if you don’t read in time to give us your feedback before then, that’s not a problem because we can make any necessary changes subsequently. We want this to be an enjoyable experience for you; not a chore!

Alien Legends: A selection from the Repository of Imagination

The glass balls hanging in the window had no visible means of suspension. That was what first attracted the traveler’s eye. Inside each sphere was a scene from worlds fantastic and, in a few cases, barely comprehensible. Grassland rolled in the wind; a monster swam the ocean’s depths: the spheres were alive!

“Welcome to the Repository of Imagination, young sir. Do you have a tale you wish to hear…?”

For the first time, selected story spheres from the Repository have been translated into human languages. Open your mind to the splendor of other worlds, to fantastic creatures so alike you humans in some ways, yet in other ways so different. Learn the cautionary tales of those who lived aeons before you.

32 separate stories suitable for young humans aged 10-14 years, and for older readers whose sense of wonder has yet to ossify.

Style/ Genre: YA fantasy and science fiction stories.            Mostly flash fiction but also full-length short stories, several poems, and a novella.

Language: American English and British English in separate editions.

Length: 81,000 words — 32 separate stories

Similar authors/ works: The Hobbit, 2000AD: Tharg’s Future Shocks, The Heinlein juveniles, The Skylark of Space, Doctor Who

Timescale: Alien Legends will be published early in the new year.

Thanks

Tim

Artistic credits: Crank cover-Derek Jones; Alien Legends-Dragonfly22 / Shutterstock