I saw the other posts about how to approach them, but I'm wondering how you select them.
The associate editor at the newspaper where I work said she would read it for me, but she can't do it all in one sitting. She wants it chapter by chapter, and it could take her a while to get it to it. This is what she told me. She's currently working on her second book, so I know she doesn't have time, really.
My cousin loves to read and reads just about anything she can get her hands on. She has read a few of my short stories. She's pretty good at critiquing, but honestly, she has no editorial experience at all. She's very well-educated, though, with a master's in industrial safety.
I also think the copy editor at work would do it for me, too, because she's said more than once that she would like to read it. But, again, she's very, very good at catching typos, but I don't know how well she would be with the other things that matter. And, she also loves to read.
Everyone else at the newspaper who would do it would be reading it with an eye for newspaper style writing, not fiction. My local writing group broke up, and while they read it as a work in progress, they haven't read it since I've finished several revisions.
So, who would you pick? Do you have beta readers at all?
The associate editor at the newspaper where I work said she would read it for me, but she can't do it all in one sitting. She wants it chapter by chapter, and it could take her a while to get it to it. This is what she told me. She's currently working on her second book, so I know she doesn't have time, really.
My cousin loves to read and reads just about anything she can get her hands on. She has read a few of my short stories. She's pretty good at critiquing, but honestly, she has no editorial experience at all. She's very well-educated, though, with a master's in industrial safety.
I also think the copy editor at work would do it for me, too, because she's said more than once that she would like to read it. But, again, she's very, very good at catching typos, but I don't know how well she would be with the other things that matter. And, she also loves to read.
Everyone else at the newspaper who would do it would be reading it with an eye for newspaper style writing, not fiction. My local writing group broke up, and while they read it as a work in progress, they haven't read it since I've finished several revisions.
So, who would you pick? Do you have beta readers at all?
