Brave and succinct. It should be a sticky.
Unfortunately I have very limited time, (you wouldn't know it by the amount of time I spend on AW!) but have beta read for 5 people at AW and really put a lot of time and effort into it, because obviously I think it's important and that's what I would want from someone beta reading my mss. Only 2 thanked me, a better average than poor Karen's, but still left me puzzled and feeling a little disappointed. Am I a bad beta? Did I not understand the concept? Was I too harsh? Did I miss the message of the book? Not sufficiently skilled for the genre? I try to balance comments, but I'm not going to say, this was so lovely there was nothing I could add. What I hope I provided in each and every case was thoughtful, helpful, possibly insightful reading. Instead, I am left wondering where I went wrong.
Unfortunately I have very limited time, (you wouldn't know it by the amount of time I spend on AW!) but have beta read for 5 people at AW and really put a lot of time and effort into it, because obviously I think it's important and that's what I would want from someone beta reading my mss. Only 2 thanked me, a better average than poor Karen's, but still left me puzzled and feeling a little disappointed. Am I a bad beta? Did I not understand the concept? Was I too harsh? Did I miss the message of the book? Not sufficiently skilled for the genre? I try to balance comments, but I'm not going to say, this was so lovely there was nothing I could add. What I hope I provided in each and every case was thoughtful, helpful, possibly insightful reading. Instead, I am left wondering where I went wrong.