About LitFeedback

LitFeedback is a platform for beta readers to give feedback on books-in-progress.

This is still a work-in-progress. If you have an interest in testing the platform, contact me on LinkedIn

Why the platform?

I am writing a digital marketing book and came across the concept of 'practical books'. There, I learned about beta readers and how they can help me write a better book. They also developed a tool that is dependent on Google Docs, which I don't really want to use. I searched for alternatives, and although all looked great, none fulfilled my needs.

As context, I write my book (and almost everything) in the AsciiDoc or Markdown format. AsciiDoc and Markdown are both lightweight markup languages that provide a way to format plain text documents with headings, lists, links, and other elements. They are popular choices for creating structured content that can be easily converted to different output formats. This means that I write once and compile for Amazon KDP, ePub, Print, PDF, and HTML, all from one source.

The problem? None of the available platforms support these formats or images. And I don't like manual work that much."

What I want?

  • To be able to write in Markdown or AsciiDoc (or other formats), compress the source folder in a zip file, and upload it somewhere so that it is automatically converted to HTML and available to receive feedback."
  • To be able to publish the book in one of my preferred markup languages (ASiiDoc, Markdown, other...).
  • To be able to receive feedback from beta readers in any device (desktop, tablet, phone).
  • To be able to use AI and get actionable summaries from all the feedback. This will be a bit more work, but it is on the way)
  • To have a multi-language platform (I plan to publish the book in English, German, and Spanish so I plan to also receive feedback from beta readers in those languages. To do that the platform should also be available translated.)
  • For beta readers to be able to use specific labels (aka reactions) with icons. They should be able to communicate the main idea behind their comment or annotation. Sometimes, an emoticon is also enough.

Features so far:

You will find a more detailed and updated list of features on the home page.

  • Accepts AsciiDoc and images either as a string or a zip file and automatically converts it to HTML.
  • Provides annotation functionality on all levels (characters, phrases, sentences, paragraphs, etc.).
  • Offers beta reader permissions. No one can see your book unless you add them to it.
  • Requires beta readers to create an account before adding them to your book
  • An author can invite a beta reader just by adding an email. The inviter beta reader will receive an email with a link and, if accepted, will be added to the list of allowed readers.
  • Provide a beta reader management screen to add and remove beta readers and invitations.
  • Displays a list of all annotations on the left side for an overview and easy access.
  • Does not have any dependencies with Google or any other external platform. It is hosted in Germany and uses Matomo for web analytics.
  • Planned support for images and diagrams in AsciiDoc (work-in-progress).
  • Upcoming support for image annotations.

As I said, this platform is still a work-in-progress, and I'm continuously working on enhancing its features as I need. If you have an interest in testing the platform or want to learn more, feel free to reach out to me on: LinkedIn