As a beta reader, I hadn’t set a personal goal for how many books to read in 2023. When I hit the fifty mark, I wondered, What if I get to eighty? And then when I hit eighty with clients booked out for a month, I realized that reaching one hundred was not only achievable but probable.

When I hit the 100th beta read of the year, it was a 589-page book and a wonderfully entertaining story. I celebrated the achievement by sending my kids off with a babysitter, ordering myself a cheese pizza, and dancing with a slice of pizza in one hand and a root beer in the other.

To all of the authors that I’ve beta read for in 2023, I’m beyond grateful to have worked with you. All of your stories and characters live in my head, and I’m so excited for all of the publications to come in 2024. To all the authors I’ve worked with who published in 2023, your book is either already on my bookshelf or on its way there!

I have no goal set for 2024 except to see where God takes my beta reading gig. I believe He has called me to step more into a full-time career with beta reading, so I’m excited to see how He’s going to move and where I will be at the start of 2025.

Thank you all for trusting me with your books. Beta reading for some is just a means for passive income. Beta reading for me is about receiving manuscripts (the heart of an author) and with sincere care, raw honesty, and unparalleled thoroughness, preparing that book for publication.