Importing manuscripts

by | Mar 10, 2020 | help, manuscripts | 0 comments

BetaReader.io supports importing a whole book at once, greatly simplifying the process of getting started with your beta. This article describes how to do it from a few popular text editors.

Process

  1. Export a docx file from your favorite text editor (see how below).
  2. Make sure that it weighs less than 5MB, contains no images, and uses the “Header 1” style only for chapter titles.
  3. Upload it to BetaReader.io

How to import your book

From Microsoft Word

  1. Make sure that only your chapter titles use the Heading 1 style. Check out our free docx template for inspiration.
  2. Then save your document as docx and upload it to BetaReader.

Selecting Header 1 style in Ms Word.

From Google Docs

  1. Make sure that only your chapter titles use the Heading 1 style. Check out our free Google Docs template for inspiration.
  2. Select File > Download as > Microsoft Word (.docx)
  3. Upload your downloaded file to BetaReader.

From Scrivener 3

  1. Download our free Scrivener Format template
  2. In your Scrivener document, select File > Export > Files…
  3. In the Export dialog window, click the cogwheel in the bottom left and select Import Formats…
  4. Select the BetaReader Novel Format. Add it to My Formats or Project Formats, whichever you prefer.
  5. Select the newly imported BetaReader Novel Format and click Compile.
  6. Upload your compiled file to BetaReader.

Upload your docx file

Once you’ve formatted your book and have it as a docx file, you:

1. Click the Import button on the dashboard.

2. This will open a window which you can click to upload, or simply drag and drop your file into.

3. Once you’ve selected your file, we will start to process it. Depending on the length of your manuscript, this can take up to 15 seconds, so don’t click away immediately.

4. When we have finished processing the file, we will show you how we’ve understood the story to be segmented. A chapter list will be visible to the left of the manuscript (only on large screens), with indicators showing the relative length of each chapter. If you notice that we’ve missed something, you can easily cut or merge chapters before completing the import.

5. Click Complete the import
6. Done! You can now go ahead and edit your chapters, slip in some reader surveys, and invite your beta readers 🙂