It turns out that many editors who work at major publishers also freelance edit on the side. (Source: I have many friends who work at Penguin in NYC.) If you want, I can ask some of them if they know any leads who might be interested.

I'd be interested in that as well. Trying to build something that's geared heavily toward developmental/structural editing, and connecting freelancers with writers. Could I send you an email?

How did you work with your alpha readers?

Ie - did you wait for your first completed draft before showing them the whole thing, or did you show them chapter/scene works-in-progress as you wrote them?

I gave the 15 alpha readers a "finished" book, by which I mean, I thought it was ready to go, so I had already edited it myself a few times.

The consistent feedback I received from those readers weighed heavily on the major edit which followed. I had made some mistakes, no doubt about it. The work is now better for it.

I then gave the "finished" book to a much smaller group of beta readers and repeated the process. Then I went through the book a few times myself to improve the flow. Finally, it went to the copyeditor.

Thanks for sharing your experience about using beta readers. I think this is so important for any type of media creation, from books to music to videogames. I am actually developing a framework that explores this called Lean Media:

What is Lean Media? It’s an approach to creating media content that emphasizes low-cost production, careful observation/measurement of audience feedback, and fast iteration. Properly incubated and carefully scaled, Lean Media projects can attract loyal audiences and grow into successful works and brands.

(more information via http://leanmedia.org)

Would you be interested in being profiled on the blog about your approach to using beta readers? If so please email me at ian -at- leanmedia.org ... I think what you are doing would provide a great example!

Your second "Createspace" link is wrong.

Fixed, thanks!

Stephen King, is that you?

Tough crowd.