AI Beta Reader

OK, first thing is you have to upgrade to a pro account. Gemini is a little different from ChatGPT and others, because it is owned by Google. So you are upgrading your Google account. Want to know more? Go to Gemini and just ask it!

BTW, I and many other believe Gemini will be the winner of the ai wars. The simple reason is money. Google has lots of it, ChatGPT racks up debt and loses money every year. And right now, Gemini might very well be the best! Back on topic:

Once you have a pro account, Gemini gives you that huge million token working limit! Most other ai give you around 100k, which is just enough tokens for it to read the novel, but not comment on it.

Like most ai these days, they have different modes: fast, thinking, research, etc. For this operation, you want the pro mode, found in the chat window.

Then you want to have your novel in a word doc so you can attach or upload it, not copy and paste.

Here is the prompt I ran:
I have attached the full manuscript for my novel. I would like you to act as my first developmental beta reader.

Please read the entire document and provide a Comprehensive Beta Report covering:

High-Level Impressions: What is the core emotional takeaway?

Pacing: Identify any ‘slow’ sections or areas where the plot moves too fast.

Character Arcs: Does the protagonist’s growth feel consistent and earned?

Internal Logic: Flag any plot holes, contradictions, or ‘magic system/world-building’ inconsistencies.

Dialogue & Voice: Does the dialogue feel distinct for different characters?

After providing this report, please stand by. I want to engage in a detailed discussion regarding specific chapters, character introductions, and key plot beats to refine the story further.

Name of Novel:

I also told it a little background of the novel, but that may not have been necessary.

It read the entire novel in less than a minute and spent a few minutes on commentary.

I straightened up a few of the things it said in the commentary and it adjusted and rewrote it, much tighter than before. From there, we discussed many major plot points throughout the novel. It gave its opinion and it gave me places where it thought I could improve.

I did not ask it for grammar or spelling corrections as I have other software that does this.

Does this replace a human beta reader? No. But it is a great first read through. It might make you feel better about your writing and it might point out some things that it thinks are not working.

At the end, it asked if I wanted it to create a blurb for the book. I thought, why not? It read the entire thing, lets see what it says. The first pass through it basically gave away the entire novel in a blurb. lol. I told it that and it came back with a much better one. The next version was pretty good:

SHE WAS BORN IN THE SHADOWS. SHE WAS FORGED IN THE FIRE.

Eighteen-year-old Nina has spent her life being owned. As a theater girl in Smyrna, she is property—seen, used, and discarded at a whim. But one night, pushed to the edge of endurance, she makes a choice that changes everything: she runs.

With nothing but three coins and the clothes on her back, Nina steps into a world far more dangerous than the one she left behind. It is a world of wolves in human skin, where trust is a currency that can cost you your life.

Pushed to her breaking point, Nina is forced to decide what she is willing to become to survive. Under the guidance of a reclusive mentor, the frightened girl begins to die, and something else begins to take her place. Something colder. Something stronger.

Before she was the woman who whispered in the ear of the empire’s greatest general, she was a girl who had to learn a simple, brutal truth: if you refuse to be prey, you must become the predator.

The untold origin story of Antonina.

Very nice!

That million token limit is unheard of and thats what makes it possible.

Gemini may be the very best ai out there right now and it might be tough for others to leap frog it.

Have some in depth discussions with it on marketing your book and about anything else you like. Once it has read your entire novel, have it create teasers for it. Quick little promos and things like that.