Alpha: check

I'm listening to the printer spewing out paper in the background as I'm writing this. It has been two years since I last heard that noise.
The hardcopy is for a first test reading by my wife. She's been part of developing aspects of the story from a very early time.

Now, readings as early as this can only be part of development, and I personally believe that copies at this stage of the process should only go out to those who are already too involved in the story to function as neutral readers.

When I finally come as far as to having a beta version it'll be time to find readers who are not tainted with previous knowledge of the story.
Provided I get published and it becomes a series I'll need to reconsider. Most of a buying readership will most probably be familiar with parts of the story as they're likely to have read part n-1 before reading part n in any ongoing story.