---
title: "Send copies to beta readers"
description: "Make one copy of your book per reader, with their name watermarked on every page, as an EPUB, a PDF or a link you can turn off."
source: https://usegalley.com/docs/share-a-copy
---
# Send copies to beta readers

Each reader gets their own copy with their name on every page. If a copy turns up somewhere it
shouldn’t, you’ll know whose it was.

*The Galley Toolkit and Exports menu listing Preview Book and Read-through, the manuscript exports from PDF to Submission package, and tools from Import manuscript to Bin.*

Share a copy sits in the Toolkit with the other exports.

## How to do it

1. **Open Share a copy.** In the **Toolkit**, choose
**Share a copy**.
2. **Add your readers.** Type each reader’s name. Press `Enter` to add another. Their name is
the watermark on their copy.
3. **Choose how they get it.** Pick **EPUB** or **PDF** for a file they keep,
or **Link** for a page you can turn off later. A link can have an expiry date and a password.
4. **Share it.** Click **Share with 3 readers**. Files download one per
reader, and links appear in the list, ready to copy.

## Which to choose

- **EPUB** for someone reading on a phone, a tablet or an e-reader.
- **PDF** for someone who wants to print it or scribble on it.
- **Link** when you want control. The reader opens the book in their browser, on a page that shows your
name and the title first. You can see whether they’ve opened it, and turn the link off when you’re done. Tick
**Let them download a watermarked file too** if they’d rather read offline.

## Notes from readers

Tick **Let them leave notes** when you make a link, and your reader gets a
**Leave a note** button while they read. If they select a line first, the note quotes
it. Notes land in the **Comments** panel of the chapter they were
reading, under the reader's name, with a dot on that chapter in the sidebar. Click a quoted line to
find it in the chapter.

Readers don't sign up for anything, and Galley keeps nothing about them except the note and the
name you gave the link. You can switch notes on or off for each link afterwards.

## Managing links

Every link you’ve made is listed under **Links** in the same window, with whether it’s been opened. You
can copy it again, turn it off so the page stops working, or delete it.
An expiry date ends the link at the close of that day, in your time zone.

## Good to know

- A watermark doesn’t stop anyone copying the words out. It tells you whose copy it was, which is usually enough to
stop it happening.
- The copies are made from the book as it is now. If you revise, send a new copy.
- For an editor who works in track changes, export **Word** instead, and bring their edited file back
with **Import manuscript** in the Toolkit.

## Next

How many readers to send it to, and what to ask them, is in
[sending your novel to beta readers](https://usegalley.com/blog/sending-your-novel-to-beta-readers). The other files you can
make are in [preview & export](https://usegalley.com/docs/preview-and-export#for-other-people).

[PreviousExport a print PDF for KDP](https://usegalley.com/docs/export-a-print-pdf) [NextPublishing](https://usegalley.com/docs/publishing)

## Go on, write a page in it.

Opens straight into a book. Nothing to install, nothing to sign up for.

[Open the demo](https://demo.usegalley.com) [See what €199 gets you](https://usegalley.com/buy?from=site)