Willing Beta Readers Volume II

I will beta read self-help books

I want to beta read self-help nonfiction, and hopefully ask you to read mine later on.

I'll be happy to look it over, at any stage, and give you my take on it.

Hi again!
I'm on open beta season, looking for MS in Fantasy, specially YA or MG. That's because I'm trying to find someone with similar tastes to be beta buddies - but I'm ok if it doesn't turn this way.
My response time will be around 1 month, I'm starting a new job now.

And I'm closed again - a lot of work on hands.

See you!

interested beta reader

I am interested in beta reading any fiction, especially sci fi, adventure, or mystery, at the YA or teen level, but am willing to consider other genres/levels.

email me at
[email protected]

STATUS: Available

Hi!

I'm currently on vacation, so I'm happy to beta for anyone that's interested, preferably those who are willing to reciprocate sometime in the future (if not, that's okay, just keep it in mind?).

As for genres, most of my reading tends to be in YA, literary and contemporary fiction, but I won't say no to an enthralling plot.

With regards to my editing style, I line edit. I tutor Literature and English part-time, and I compulsively check for grammar/spelling/syntax/etc. I normally use track changes and comment features on Word, and will summarise my overall view briefly in an email, but I'm also open to discuss what I said or impressions &c. Also, I tend to take 2-3 weeks to complete a critique as I try to read it the manuscript through twice and give as much detail as possible in the critique.

PM me with a word count and brief synopsis and we can hopefully work something out

Jessica

I will be available for Beta reading starting Dec. 9. If you can wait until then, here is a link to my original post where you can find what I would be willing to read and what you should send me in an initial pm: http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showpost.php?p=5071271&postcount=74

Beta reader available for romantic fiction

***Unavailable for beta reading at the moment***

Like most people on this board, I love reading, but I have two specific goals for my beta reading:

First, I believe that focused reading of other authors' work will help me with my own writing.
And second, after years of editing and proofreading academic texts, I'd like to have some experience of working with fiction that's not my own.

My pipe-dream for a long time has been to proofread/ edit fiction, especially romantic fiction. I'm taking baby steps in that direction, so beta-reader seekers, would you be willing to write a short testimonial following a successful project? Only if you find my proofing/ editing helpful, of course! I'd really appreciate it.

Preferred genre: Romance - this is what I love to read (amongst other things), but it's also what I'm writing at the moment so I want to target romantic fiction for now.

Critique style: For most of my proofreading/ editing work, I use the track changes and comments features in Word to do line-by-line editing. I'm open to other methods, though. I can work on the entire MS or on a chapter by chapter basis.

If you're interested, send me a PM with a rough synopsis, word count, preferred critique style and let me know if there's anything in particular you want me to keep in mind while reading.

Thanks,

Em
http://proofofromance.yolasite.com/

I'm an available beta reader for some genres.

Preferrably - I'd take

• Fantasy
• Science Fiction
• YA Romance

But nearly anything is fine. I will not tolerate, however:

• Erotica
• Horror [I apologize, I'm weak]

At the moment, I ask for nothing in return, just trying to help out and see some work of various writers.

Email me at RadhikaM[at]writing.com

Thanks.

Though I did leave this post here and was not available, I am available now! I have no beta reads in session, so email me.

Currently full on beta reads. Please don't send any requests until after January 31, 2011. Thanks!!

Hi, everyone. I'm in between projects right now while my MS is on submission, so I have time to do a beta if you have a manuscript ready. I prefer YA of all shades, paranormal romance, or urban fantasy, but I've read a fair amount of women's fiction (Jane Green, Jodi Picoult, etc) so I think I could give that genre a fair shake, too.

I'm pretty direct, and I'm not going to sugar coat anything, but I'm fair, I'm not overly picky, and I don't critique with a chip on my shoulder.

Feel free to give me a shout through PM here, or email to brigidmary [at] gmail.com.

Back for beta

Greetings, Earthlings! So...I beta-read for a while on the old thread, then deployed and couldn't for a while, and now I'm back and ready to be a beta reader again! (thanks for the format, Koyanagi )

Availability
Available

Contacting Me
If you're interested, PM me your Query letter and the first chapter. If you don't have a query letter, start here! Your query is how you dazzle, so if I'm interested (not to sound demanding but let's face it, if what you send doesn't hold my interest I'm probably not a good beta reader for you anyway) I'll give you my email address and you can send me the entire manuscript.

Critique Style
Sporadic Line edits if a scene needs tightening
General feedback on character arcs, plot, pacing, and narration.
I'll read the manuscript and insert comments as I go along.
At the end, I'll summarize my general impressions in an email.

In Order of Interest, I will gladly read:
- Mainstream/Contemporary Fiction
- Thrillers/mystery/suspense
- SF/SF-Fantasy (see below!)
- Humor
- Horror
- Limited YA (catchy! daring! funny!)

Please, don't send me:
Romance/chick lit/anything in the vein of Eat-Pray-Love
Anything to do with witches, vamps, magic. I'll tell you right now I'll hate your version of Twilight, sorry.
Memoirs/Historical fiction

If you have a novel that doesn't fit in a genre, or you feel your cover letter does not do your story justice, I feel your pain. Send me a synopsis with your query and 1st chapter and I'll let you know if it's something I would read.

Couple of Things You Should Know!

- I will probably ask you to return the favor.
- Please, late-stage manuscripts that are almost ready for the query process only. We'll both be annoyed if I have to spend all day being a grammar Nazi
- I'm in the Air Force so if I have to leave on a long-term deployment I may not be able to see the beta-read through - in which case I will sincerely apologize, send you any comments I've made thus far and contact you when I'm back, and if you still need a beta read I'll jump back on!

STATUS: UNAVAILABLE

I'll beta YA or MG novels. I like SiFi or Fantasy. I do not like FIRST PERSON PRESENT TENSE or SECOND PERSON ANY TENSE -- it makes me cringe when I read it and I won't get past the first chapter. I also don't like high fantasy eg. Dragons etc. Oh, and I don't want first drafts please.

PM me if you're interested

I just finished my first novel. Would be willing to beta Urban Fantasy or light, fun contemporary romance. Please NO YA! I am probably not your girl if you need grammar. I'll go over your story and let you know what I think as far as characters, plot and that kind of thing.

I am also looking for a beta or two for my UF novel. Would prefer not to swap.

Status - Booked up for now!

I'd love to do a beta read for someone.

What I like...
Fantasy of any kind
Romance
Horror
YA
Mystery

What I don't like...
SF

What I won't do....
Line-editing, grammar, spelling, punctuation, unless it's something that really stands out.

PM me a synopsis if you're interested.

Availability
Not Available right now (rewriting my own manuscript)

Contacting Me
email ([email protected]). I don't need a summary but prefer to see a chapter or two before commiting to an entire manuscript.

Critique Style
High level - Plot/character inconsistencies, pacing, character development, info dumps, etc.


I like to read:
Anything not listed below.

I'm not interested in:
Anything with lots of explicit/gratuitious violence
YA or MG anything
Romance / Erotica
Hard-boiled detective
Non-fiction
Christian
High Fantasy

Couple of Things You Should Know!
I am not interested in first drafts.
If you haven't posted anything for critique in AW's ShareYourWork forums, I strongly suggest you do so before looking for a beta reader.
I have a strong grammer background. If you know you have grammer problems, fix them!

Full of projects for now, thanks everyone!

[STATUS: CURRENTLY WORKING]

Hello, everyone. I'd LOVE to be a beta reader. If you're looking for someone who will work with you closely and hit you hard with criticism (in the spirit of improvement of course) then I might be the guy for you. Especially if your work is a science fiction, fantasy, or horror, with a teen or young adult audience.

Please PM me the details of your manuscript first and then we'll talk about business, such as how long I should take to be done with the project and whether you want me to stay on afterwards to help with your actual revision. I just prefer to know these things beforehand.

If you take me on as a beta reader, I'll look at your work from top to bottom, send you back a marked-up file, and also write you up a review. I'll send you the review first, then ask you if it's okay to post said review on my blog (free promotion for you!) I'm passionate about this work, so expect me to be thorough... and if I'm not, yell at me!

I look forward to your PM's.

Self-help Beta reader

Fruitbat said:

I want to beta read self-help nonfiction, and hopefully ask you to read mine later on.

I'll be happy to look it over, at any stage, and give you my take on it.

Click to expand...

Hey there, Fruitbat.

Sounds good to me. Any connections yet?
I've got a self-help book that isn't! (I believe I can guarantee that it's unlike any self-help book you can imagine)—and I need a beta-reader.

Interested? (You can judge my beta-reading abilities in turn, from what you read.)

I'm willing to beta read novels in the follow genres:
YA paranormal romance
gay romance
YA edgy

Heavy focus on my love for gay romance (especially if it's YA paranormal). If you'd like to try me out as a beta reader, drop me a message with the query and I'll see if it's something I'd enjoy (if it's m/m, I'd probably enjoy it no matter the topic). If that goes, drop me the first chapter and I'll respond back with my beta notes. After that you can decide if you'd like me to look at a larger partial.

((@airforceauthor: I totally used your template for filling this out, since it was perfect for the purpose. Thank you!))

Availability
Not Available (update 1/28/11)

Contacting Me
+ email ([email protected]) or pm is fine. Please send me a summary of your work before the complete manuscript.

Critique Style
+ Pacing, development, characters, what jars me as wrong, spelling, repetition.
- I'm not the person to look towards for grammar/punctuation

I will gladly read:
+ Young Adult (Fantasy, Paranormal, Historical)
+ Fantasy (any sub genre therein)
+ Romance (Historical, Paranormal)
+ Steampunk
+ Zombie anything
+ novel length, novella, short story

Please, don't send me:
- Horror (unless Zombie related, I love the Undead!)
- Erotica (steamy is fine, Erotica less so)
- Mystery
- Non-fiction (War, Memoir)
- Contemporary Romance
- Christian
- Hard Scifi

Couple of Things You Should Know!
+ I just love reading, I have no degrees or such. I help proof my friends' work and in college I helped with the Creative Writing Magazine, but that's the extent of my 'experience'
+ Please be upfront with what kind of critique you are looking for as well as the time frame in which you'd like it finished.
+ I don't mind first drafts or not completely polished drafts--again I just like reading.
+ If you'd like help with research, or if that is something you'd like me to look at in particular please let me know. I love research!

Any questions or such please don't hesitate to pm/email!

Lexie

***Sorry, not currently available***

...beta read humorous/satirical novels. It doesn't really matter what genre they're in. The satire/humor authors I have particularly enjoyed are:Terry Pratchett, Marian Keyes, Jonathan Safran Foer, Winston Groom, Oscar Wilde, Jerome K Jerome, Douglas Adams, Jasper Fforde.

So you can see that my definition is pretty wide - as long as its witty and clever and makes me smile, I would count that as "humor".
I don't have many genres that I won't read (and those probably don't overlap with humor/satire anyway). Mostly I won't beta nonfiction, though; I don't really know enough about the market.


Critique Style

I'll give you general feedback on plot arcs, pacing, characters and of course, how funny it is - what works for me, what doesn't.
I will point out spelling and grammar errors (but I would hope that the MS has been thoroughly edited by you in the first instance)
At the end of each chapter, I'll provide general remarks.


Notes:

- I may ask you to return the favor later (I'm working on a UF satire at the moment). So please only contact me if you'd potentially be open to betaing my novel sometime this year. Sure, it may not work out that way, but I'd like to have the possibility.
- I really want to help people get published, but that can only happen if I'm working with a late draft (not first draft!), and it has been thoroughly edited for spelling and grammar errors.


About Me

I have written two novels, one of which is currently on submission. I am agented by DMLA in New York. There is a lot of humor in the novels I write, but I am only now writing my first actual humor novel (one of my two WIPs).
I have recently beta'd a full mystery MS from a very talented AWer. The experience was most enjoyable. He very kindly described my advice as "astute, on-point and helpful" and said "you've hit upon things that will help improve the ms and make little bits and pieces come alive."


Contacting Me

It's probably best if you PM me your Query letter and the first chapter. I'll let you know if the novel sounds like something I can give feedback on, and we'll go from there!

I have some time this week so I'm posting a QUICK contest in which I'll beta read the first 3,000 of your ms (tomorrow, I'll pick a winner randomly).

http://tinyurl.com/465kh3h
BTW, I'm a YA writer, repped by Michelle Wolfson of Wolfson Lit.

***I've got 2 ms to crit, so I'm not available right now - I'll update this post when I can take on another ms!***

Hi,

I'm a published middle grade fiction author, waiting to hear on book 2 (YA) and killing a bit of time by critiquing. This may also be known as procrastination ;-)

Send me a PM with a short description of your book first, and I'll send you my email address.

Critique Style
I tend to critique plot, pacing, tone, and characters.
I won't point out spelling/grammar/punctuation errors unless they are a problem throughout, or you specifically request me to.

I positively enjoy reading:
Young Adult
Middle Grade
Picture Books
Crime/Thrillers

I'm not your man for:
Romance/Erotica
Horror
Sci Fi

I'll consider anything else on how interesting it sounds. I have eclectic tastes. I'm happy to read first drafts, but would definitely prefer finished drafts rather than WIP.

Any questions or such please don't hesitate to pm/email!

Vicllo

Availability:
Currently available but may take a little bit of time to complete critique with my current WIPs and Submissions, but I‘d still love to help. Additional Note: If I feel that I can't get through your work, I will immediately let you know. If it's due to the writing style/grammar/tone, I will let you know. If it's just not my style, I will let you know that too so that you're not waiting on me any longer than necessary.

Genre/Subjects/Interests:
Anything Fantasy (Epic, Dark, High, etc.) Crime, Suspense, Mystery, Thriller, Horror, Religious (New Age style), Sci Fi

Not Really Into:
YA, unless it’s Fantasy.
Romance/Erotica

Favourite Authors:
Elizabeth Haydon, Piers Anthony, Neil Gaiman, Jacqueline Carey, Jeff Long, R.A. Salvatore, and Juliet Marillier

Critique Style
I’ll comment on anything that strikes my eye, whether it’s grammar, readability, word choice, plot, character development, or that “oomph” that makes me turn the page.

Professional and honest is what you’ll get with me. If something bothers me, I’m probably going to say something about it. We’re all here to help and if we don’t say it, someone else will.

Subject Matter Issues:
Nothing, but if you’re worried, provide it in the information you PM.

Contact:
PM me and we’ll go over the details of what you’re sending, what you expect, what I can do, and how fast I can get back to you.

CURRENT TURN-AROUND TIME: 1 WEEK

Availability:
Currently available for first 50 pages. I prefer that it is past at least the 2nd draft, and that you have a clear sense of your own personal writing style.

Genre/Subjects/Interests:
Crime, Suspense, Mystery, Thriller, Horror. Fantasy with salt.

Not Really Into:
General YA, religious, memoirs, historical fic or high sci-fi.

Really REALLY not Into:
YA - I don't read and what I do must be extreamely WELL WRITTEN

Favourite Authors:
Clive Barker, Anne Rice (old), P.D James, Chuck Palahnuik, Amy Hempel, Frank Herbert, Neil Giaman.

Critique Style
I'm a hard HARD line-by-liner. I'll comment on what I like and what is exceptionally written. I don't pull punches when the narrative or dialogue falls apart.

I try to insert humor into my crits to make them as punchy as possible. Sometimes it's a bitter pill, so I try to give you a cup of juice or shot of whiskey with it.

Subject Matter Issues:
None. Gore, sex, drugs, and anything that crosses a line is generally a-ok as long as it fits the narrative.

Contact:
PM me with the details of what you would like to send, what you're looking for, and what stage your at (subbing, perfecting style, polishing, or learning)

More than Reading

Availability
Currently unavailable.

DO NOT WANT
Graphic sex for graphic sex's sake
Graphic violence for graphic violence's sake
Hateful talk/action for hate's sake
**If it is in your story, ask yourself if it is necessary to further the plot or develop character before submitting to me.**

Reading Preferences
action/adventure, fantasy, romance, literary, non-fiction, historical fiction, comics and graphic novels. I also have a special spot in my heart for picture books and young adult novels.

What I Do
I am looking to practice copy editing skills on manuscripts so in addition to reading your work, proofreading, and giving my general opinion of the manuscript from a reader's perspective I will also create a style sheet for your work and copy edit it using editing software.

Simply put, I would treat it as if it were in the process of publication. Another facet to a copy editor's role is to be sure that the author's voice remains intact through the editing process. Therefore, while I would edit meticulously (line by line, error by error) I would do so with a light hand. Because fragments work sometimes, right?

About Me
BA in English
Certificated to Teach English - had child, now want to freelance to stay at home
Read all.the.time.
Favorite authors: Jane Austen (Austen is daughter's middle name), Alexandre Dumas, Jasper Fforde, Scott Westerfeld, Dee Henderson, Kristen Heitzmann, Carlos Ruiz Zafon, P N Elrod, YOU?

Timeframe
All this would take some time. READ: patient authors only. I work full time and have an infant so I can't promise quick turn around.

Contact
If interested, please email me here: [email protected]

In your message describe your work and tell me what you would most want to get out of a beta-read.