weblog.masukomi.org - writing

Looking For Beta Readers 2

2026-10-18T00:00:00-04:00

Table of Contents

Overview

It’s that time again: time to rustle up some beta readers for another book!^[1]

This is a spicy, sapphic, polyamorous, cozy, slice-of-life story about a broken catgirl who finally finds comfort in the arms of her friend, and her wife.

Ji-woo’s parents could never accept that she and her sister weren’t human, and the loss of her sister broke something in their already fragile family.

For years now, Ji-woo has helped other catgirls who’ve been victims of abuse, but it’s taken a toll on her. One bad night pushes her past her limits, and her only friend brings her home to give her the comfort she needs. Her act of kindness changes their lives forever.

What I need and don’t need

Right now I’m looking for high level feedback about what works and what doesn’t. I need readers who are willing to set politeness aside and give me honest, and constructive feedback. I mean this literally. I’m autistic. If you try to not hurt my feelings I won’t understand what you’re hinting at. Kindness, is - of course - always appreciated.

I’m specifically not looking for feedback on basic grammar and punctuation. I’ll be hiring someone to tackle that problem.

This book is ~102k words; a fairly typical novel’s worth. If you don’t finish it, that’s fine. Just give me feedback on whatever you did read, and why you ended up not finishing.

Feel free to text me or hit me up on Mastodon if you have questions about anything, or something is confusing.

I’m specifically Looking for…

Your favorite part.
Thoughts about the main characters. Did you like them? Did any of them feel flat?
Thoughts about the relationship. Was it believable?
Did you find that the story dragged in any areas?
Anything that’s unclear, insensitive, accidentally offensive, etc.
Missing content warnings
Inappropriate use of past tense. This book was originally written in past tense. Now it’s present tense. Catching the leftover scraps of this conversion have proven surprisingly difficult. So please holler if you find any.
Feedback from dwarfs and Korean-Americans. I want to make sure I don’t say anything stupid before this goes to the general public. I also want to make sure I haven’t failed to include something that would be helpful. For context Ji-woo is a 1st generation Korean-American, and a dwarf (proportional pituitary dwarfism). I am neither of those things. I’ve tried to do my research, and I was around a lot of Korean-American kids in my youth, but I’m certainly not an expert.

Please note: The cover is crap. I know. 😉 I have an illustrator in mind to help me create something awesome, but I’m happy to check out anyone’s portfolio if they’ve got experience illustrating book covers.

Returning Beta Readers

First off, thank you. 🙇‍♀️ Alex’s story is significantly improved because of your feedback.

You met Ji-Woo, Becca, and Cass in Alex’s story. Ji-woo was the tiny coworker who found herself the center of unwanted attention when things blew up. 😉

I’ve built a new export tool that won’t accidentally clobber a chapter again. 🤦‍♀️😮‍💨 Part of that effort was to significantly improve my ability to provide content warnings. Each chapter with problematic content should have a content warning at the top, and whenever the warnable content is a section buried somewhere in the chapter you’ll find a inline indicators of where it stops and starts so that you can easily skip it.

I wrote Ji-woo’s story, then wrote Alex’s story. Then came back and edited Ji-woo’s. I think it’s good, but frankly I’ve edited and reread so many parts of this that my brain’s started to glaze over, and I need your help.

While you look at this, I’m going to get back to working on Thimble’s story, and pray that you don’t find this terrible. I think she was a blip in Alex’s story, but she’s slightly more visible now, especially in this story.

How To Contact Me

The best way to contact me is on the Fediverse at @masukomi@connectified.com .

Email works too, but I’m effing terrible with email. Please send info to masukomi@masukomi.org and put “About your book” in the subject line. I’ll try and have my mail app notify me when anything like that comes in. PLEASE NOTE: Do not contact me to have your AI tool read my book. I sincerely hope that all AI book-reading services die in a fire. I want to know what people think of it, not what bots think of it.

Humans who enjoy reading: drop me a note. I’ll send you a link to download the epub.

Oddly, while this is the second book I’m putting out for beta readers, it’s actually my first book, and the first book in this series. ADHD really doesn’t make things easy sometimes. ↩

Looking For Beta Readers

2025-08-17T00:00:00-04:00

Table of Contents

Overview

I need beta readers for my books!

If you’re interested in spicy, sapphic, polyamorous, slice-of-life stories set in a world where catgirls exist, and not everyone’s kind to them, then keep reading!

This page will explain what I’m looking for, and what to expect.

The only credentials you need are to be open minded about queer and poly stuff, and interested in reading a book like the one described below.

If you’re a professional proofreader, editor, sensitivity reader, etc. who would be interested in working on stories like that, I absolutely want you to send me your info & rates, but I’m not quite ready for you yet. See “How To Contact Me” below.

Why I Need Readers

I’ve had some of my technical writing published before, but this is the first novel I’m putting out into the world, and frankly I’m scared. I think it’s pretty decent, but I don’t know if the story, or the writing style, will work for others. I want to find out if this is worth paying a real editor $$$ to go through a whole bunch of words with a fine-toothed comb, or if there are glaring problems that need some real revision.

No worries if you’re not interested in reading something that hasn’t made it through a professional editor. I’ll still need people to read it after editing.

What I Need & Don’t Need

I’m specifically not looking for feedback on basic grammar and punctuation. I’ll be hiring someone to tackle that problem. Hopefully my grammar’s good enough that you won’t want to huck your e-reader into the wall.

This book (tentatively “Alex’s Story”) is ~147k words, or about 1.5 average novels in length. If you don’t finish it, that’s fine. Just give me feedback on what you read, and why you ended up not finishing.

What You’d Be Reading

Description

In a world that can’t decide if catgirls should be treated as demons, slaves, or people, Alex is an autistic catgirl who can’t always speak. She finds herself falling for Lex, a coworker with a loving partner and an amazing kid. It’s a relationship Alex wouldn’t dream of harming, but the universe forces her to admit her feelings, and discover that Lex is polyamorous, and willing to take a chance on her, if she’s willing to take a chance on loving someone who already has a partner, and kid she loves.

It’s a cozy, sapphic, mildly-spicy, polyamorous, slice-of-life story about finding the place where you belong, and the people who’ll love you for who you are.

Content Warning

Much like the rising tide of fascism and transphobia in the real world, this story is set against the backdrop of bigotry the characters must exist within, but have no hope of changing.

The main characters live with the consequences and/or challenges of autism, mutism, selective mutism, limb-loss, severe scarring, and anxiety. This isn’t “disability porn”, or a cheap attempt to pull at your heart-strings. They’re simply the things these people live with, and - in a couple cases - the things that help bring them together.

It involves characters who are lesbian, asexual, demisexual, nonbinary, Latina, East Asian, Caucasian, catgirls, humans, and even some straight white married couples.

While this is - overall - a cozy tale of finding love, it touches briefly on memories of childhood bullying, suicide, suicidal ideation, and a house fire that results in death and severe injury. In the “present day” there is a scene that deals with the immediate consequences of a nearby bombing of innocent people.

None of these are core elements of the story, and none of them are explored in detail, but they are notable moments that effect, or have effected, the character’s lives.

A Quick Note About The Catgirls

While the books I’m working on do involve catgirls, this is not what I’d consider “furry” fiction. It’s just a world where some people happen to have some catlike physical attributes.

It’s simply following in the grand tradition of sci-fi stories that follow people who are almost - but not quite - like us as a means to hold up a mirror to the world around us.

How To Contact Me

The best way to contact me is on the Fediverse at @masukomi@connectified.com .

If you’re interested in reading, let me know if you’d prefer an ePub or PDF file.