Looking to beta read

Umber · May 22, 2015

Hi everyone, I'm a 20 year old college student majoring in communications and minoring in creative writing. I've been writing seriously for the past year. I completed the first draft of my novel at 90k (contemporary mixed with dystopian), and I'm currently working on my second novel (fantasy) which is around 15k as of now. This summer I'm planning to focus on my writing. Along with writing and revising, I also want to read as much as I can. I've realized I would love to beta read for someone also. None of my work is ready to show to anyone, but I'm hoping by the end of summer I could have some people look at it too.

I prefer YA, but I'm really not picky and open to anything! As a beta reader my focus would be on the overall story/plot, character development, etc.

I don't mind reading a draft, but I would like it to be completed.

I'm also kind of new to the writing community so I would be interested in having writing buddies as well! PM or reply here if interested please!

InspectorFarquar · May 22, 2015

You sound very ambitious. Best wishes.

Maryn · May 22, 2015

Umber, I just wanted to let you know how pleased I am to see someone fairly new here who seeks to do the favor of beta reading instead of arriving with his or her hand out asking before we've been introduced. I think it's going to be a pleasure getting to know you better.

Maryn, already impressed

Umber · May 22, 2015

Wow, I really appreciate the comments Inspector and Maryn. I look forward to becoming more involved here

Blinkk · May 24, 2015

Hi Umber! I'm going to send you a PM.

Angela · May 24, 2015

Welcome to AW, Umber! (Love the name, BTW. :greenie

)

I agree, it's very refreshing for someone new to the site to offer to beta for others and to otherwise participate in the community before asking others to view their own work.

I look forward to getting to know you, and welcome to AbsoluteWrite! :PartySmil

Angela

cdmonline · May 24, 2015

Hi Angela,

It's great to see someone like yourself welcoming newcomers to the group

I'm sure you don't mean any offense but I fall squarely into the category of people that you appear to be criticizing, so it's hard not to take your comments personally. I'm new to this particular community and I am actively seeking to engage with beta readers, hence my recent post. From what I can tell, this is a perfectly reasonable forum to do this in. Am I mistaken in making that assumption? Have I missed any 'rules' that I need to be following by posting as I have done? There do appear to be more people looking for beta readers in this particular forum than there are beta readers looking for books to read but I guess it would be a bit much to expect a perfectly 50/50 balance. The ratio on other sites differs again. I'm currently active on multiple similar forums at the moment and have engaged in numerous discussions from both sides of the beta reading perspective. Many times, the discussion starts with a single post and then flourishes off-line through numerous e-mails directly between forum participants (I have several such e-mail threads currently on the go resulting directly from my posts to this group).

Like I said, I'm sure you meant no offense but perhaps just be aware that things aren't always as clear cut as they seem. All the best

- Chris

Umber · May 25, 2015

Thank you Angela!

neicolec · May 26, 2015

Hi, Umber. Appreciate your offer and the timing is great for me as I'm looking for a beta reader for my MS. I'll PM you to see if it interests you.

Thanks for being so engaged!

object of my charm · Jun 1, 2015

Thanks, Umber. Sounds great. I'll PM you.

whitegirlbkcvrs · Jun 1, 2015

Hi Umber,

I have a YA if you still need material to read! I'll definitely PM you!

Looking to beta read

Umber

InspectorFarquar

Maryn

At Sea

Umber

Blinkk

Searching for dragons

Angela

Named For a Song...

cdmonline

Umber

neicolec

Just getting started

object of my charm

whitegirlbkcvrs