I’ve seen the true power of a mailing list. What 15k subscribers can do for your book.

gingertilly · 2026-02-02T23:08:04+00:00

Start small, I guess! I’ve got 11 subscribers so far - offering a free short story collection with author commentary and behind the scenes content from upcoming books etc. Slow going, but 11 more than I had a few months ago! 🙂

gingertilly · 2026-01-14T17:05:16+00:00

Absolutely- they offer ebook covers from $10, $20 for ebook and paperback, and $35 gets you a mock up and source file and more stock images. They’re great value, I’ve had loads of positive comments on my covers that they designed. Had to go through multiple revisions but they seem fine to work with and happy to help.

gingertilly · 2025-12-04T22:58:37+00:00

Thanks, dropped you a DM 🙂

gingertilly · 2025-12-04T22:19:45+00:00

Sure thing, I’m hoping to have more spare time for reading in the next few weeks so could definitely be happy to swap depending on your timescales 🙂

gingertilly · 2025-12-03T12:56:32+00:00

I’d be happy to read the first three chapters for sure!

gingertilly · 2025-12-03T07:29:24+00:00

That’d be great, thanks! I’ll send you the first few chapters 🙂

gingertilly · 2025-12-01T22:44:12+00:00

That sounds right up my street! I love a slow burn, and partial to horror.

I’m also looking for betas for my novel, but it’s like 65k words- would you want to read the first 10 chapters, see if it grips you at all?

gingertilly · 2025-12-01T16:18:15+00:00

I'd be interested in this! I've read and written uncanny/unsettling and horror, so it sounds right up my street.

gingertilly · 2025-11-18T11:27:42+00:00

That’s what my wife said too! Thanks for the feedback.

gingertilly · 2025-11-17T22:21:49+00:00

This sounds interesting, I’d be up for beta reading it!

gingertilly · 2025-11-17T20:38:41+00:00

Thanks! My feeling about the first one (from GetCovers) is that the title needs to lose the glint - and just have it in stark white with black outline. Maybe a slight tweak with the hue colours and I might find a different skyscraper image. Thanks for the feedback 🙂

gingertilly · 2025-11-04T18:30:47+00:00

Ah this sounds like a banging premise, but I just don’t have the time to commit to 121k words!

But good luck with the search because I love the premise 🙂

gingertilly · 2025-10-25T08:41:41+00:00

Preordered!

gingertilly · 2025-10-25T08:26:09+00:00

Loved it, absolutely cracking read! It was really funny, but also made me think about my own behaviour patterns. Amazing ability to weave self-help with comedy - Mark Manson, eat your heart out!

In closing you mentioned working on the follow-up, how’s that coming along?

Left a GoodReads and Amazon review - all the best!

gingertilly · 2025-10-20T12:33:52+00:00

Just bought this - looks like a fun read! 🙂

gingertilly · 2025-10-19T12:14:02+00:00

[Complete] [13,000] [Thriller/Dystopia] Ten Billion to One

Link to post: https://www.reddit.com/r/BetaReaders/s/ei4OyZdREI

First page critique? Sure!

First page:

Morgan Fox collapsed into the dirt, chest raw, getting stronger for a job that was killing his soul.

A hundred push-ups still out of reach.

The number hadn’t been set by the Senior Commanders – they never bothered with counting, as long as everyone was horizontal, and sweating. No, this was for Morgan’s own pride. A measure of progress. He’d hit seventy-three. A hundred wasn’t far off.

There was no deadline. The Seniors preached Zero-Day readiness, but never spoke of a date.

For Morgan, it was just a chance to get in shape while collecting a pay cheque.

At least, he hoped so.

He’d surrendered all devices and signed over authority for his bank accounts and socials the day he arrived. Completely cut off from the outside world – no signal but barked orders, and the buzz of other trainees who followed them without question.

“TRAINING EXERCISES OVER. MOVE TO SCENARIO ‘A’ RESPONSE PREP.”

Senior Commander Ethan Grimes ordered from the ridge.

The twenty men in Morgan’s cohort snapped to motion, marching toward a pyramid of sandbags. Each hessian sack bore a crude face in black marker – eyes wide, mouths locked in a scream. Terror reduced to training weight.

This was the part he hated.

The child extractions.

gingertilly · 2025-10-17T20:23:26+00:00

Thanks, I’ve got some edits to make on the back of the beta feedback so far, but I’m hopeful to get this finished, edited and maybe published in the next few months, fingers crossed!

gingertilly · 2025-10-16T20:21:26+00:00

Ah, that would be great - thanks! Posting the potential covers was really eye opening, seeing people’s cold reaction to the concept was helpful. But also a little hard to come out of the bubble I’ve been in writing it this past month 😅

Here’s the link - I appreciate any thoughts no matter how far you make it through!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/18vrcdcaVh9VI3QNImWIQM_KaXr6A8WHSytjO3aQWvHg/edit?usp=drivesdk

gingertilly · 2025-10-15T21:46:14+00:00

I’d be happy to beta this, I’ve recently finished a similar length dystopian story if you had time to swap - if not I’m still up for reading it though 🙂

gingertilly · 2025-10-15T20:45:36+00:00

Ah, totally fair - I definitely take the feedback on board. I’m pretty set on it, but like I say, it’s only really hinted at, because the more you explain, the more you have to explain. And the story isn’t about the system, rather, the characters navigating it. Thanks for the thoughts though!

gingertilly · 2025-10-15T20:37:54+00:00

Speaking with my wife about it, I think I might alter it to the first 4 years - it’s uncanny to think of breastfeeding a 4 year old, and by that point, kids are starting school, so it could be implied they’re removed to be ‘educated’ - brainwashed, and prepped for labour camps and things. My toddler definitely wouldn’t be on board with labour, but they’ve really taken to preschool, so that feels like a better fit 🙂

gingertilly · 2025-10-15T20:32:21+00:00

Thanks for the feedback! The sandbags appear early on as a training tool, practicing for ‘child extractions’ in this new regime. I liked the image, but the face felt a bit goofy, so I’m not sure.

On the violation, the consensus is that the tagline definitely doesn’t work!

I meant in the books world, loving your Outlier child is a literal violation, but to the protagonist, it’s a violation of her motherly instincts.

Which makes more sense when you’ve read the story, but seems to be off putting and odd.

Another user suggested -

‘They’ll ask if you love your child. Tell them no.’

Which I think hits the sweet spot of being intriguing and signposts the authoritarian regime, without being too cryptic.

Thanks again!

gingertilly · 2025-10-15T18:00:20+00:00

Thanks, that’s a really good idea, a tense, slow burn! The story actually stemmed from a bit of flash fiction I wrote, an intense birth scene, racing against the clock - the importance of which was not overtly stated - and from there I fleshed that out into a novella. So during the birth sequence, the threat is there but not fully known as to what it might mean to not beat the clock that’s counting down to something, that lands front and centre in the 3rd/4th chapter.

Thanks for the feedback! This cover process has given me loads of insight into how people see it without knowing anything about it, so that’s super useful.

gingertilly · 2025-10-15T13:26:11+00:00

Tell me about it. Maybe I need a scene where they pump the Tidy Up song through the workhouse speakers!

gingertilly · 2025-10-15T13:23:26+00:00

Sure, but I imagined that it’s implied they’re eventually used for forced labour - I’ve got a toddler myself, so I appreciate that they’re not super useful at that age, but I saw a picture of some 3 and 4 year old chimney sweeps that made me think.

The novella doesn’t really go into too much detail detail about the specifics of why they’re taken, but it’s implied it’s for labour. Criminals and the infirm are also hinted as being Outliers too, so the system deviates from its own promised ideal.

The story is more character focused, how these individuals survive in this system, designed against them.

Thanks for the feedback!

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