I'm asking because I hear lots of people say they couldn't have done such & such without their CP/Beta. To me, this is downplaying their own hard work. Because no amount of advice & feedback can make you a better writer if you don't put in the work. I've been of the receiving end of such gushing and honestly, I much rather see them work hard & improve on their own then rely on me and tell me how great I am.
Thanking your CP/Beta is like thanking your costars, director, agent, make-up person, your parents and/or spouse and deity when you win an Academy Award. They weren't the ones who did the work to win the award, but without them, you wouldn't have had all the other things that make you focusing on your work happen so perfectly.
And if all you're getting is gushing, then you need different people doing the work. Those are cheerleaders, not CPs or betas.
I'm also asking because I have a hard time finding people who have time to look over my work.
Join the club. No one has an easy time. A good CP/beta is more precious than any treasure and is just as rare to find.
I have two. I've worked with one for over 20 years, and the other more than 10. I found both of them by actively participating in a writer's group (one from an online community like AW, the other in a face-to-face group), and just talking to people, giving honest commentary, being gracious about getting whatever commentary I got, and discovered that I clicked with each of them (and then they clicked together, which was also sweet).
Approaching people and asking them to beta for me has never worked out well. Doing that has actually lead to some really BAD experiences, so I simply don't do it anymore.
Like anything of value, it takes some effort and time to find the right person/people, but a writer needs someone who knows something about stories, can pinpoint problems and be articulate in discussing them with you. (Oh, and can pick up on what the story you want to tell is and help you tell it without inserting the story they'd rather see in the process.) So learn to be patient. It'll help you a great deal (especially with the submission phase of writing).
They say they have time, but I don't want to bother them. (My problem, I know.)
OK, so you're hired to do a job and you have the time to do it, but the boss doesn't want you to bother you to do the job? Yeah, that makes tons of sense. :Wag: Same difference.
So I guess what I'm asking is: Why should I bother? Are people with CPs and Betas really churning out better stories than people without?
Some writers find them invaluable, especially when they first start writing. Some can get along just fine without them. Some writers only use them when they're a little insecure about what they're doing.
I have beta'd or commented on beginning writers, writers with several unpublished novels under their belt, recently published writers, major award (RITA, Hugo, John Campbell) winning writers and
New York Times bestsellers (two, actually). Having a good, reliable beta/CP is a tool in a writer's tool box that is very good to have available, even if you don't need it often. Don't discount their overall value because you haven't had a good experience yet.
It's not that. It's because I've been the CP for too many people who think getting my help is enough and that they're going to get better by just absorbing it. And then I read their revisions or next book and it's not much better because they haven't actually tried all that much to improve.
Then they're lazy writers who aren't taking responsibility for their own work. Don't beta for them again. And if they ask why, tell them they're not respecting your contribution by not learning from comments and you're not willing to do the work anymore. No one wants to feel devalued for their time and contribution, after all. It's possible that these writers are of the mindset that they don't have to learn anything because someone else will catch it for them (it's far too common, especially in writers just starting out).
I hear things like this and I'm almost jealous. In my entire life, I swear whenever I've gotten feedback from more than one person, they've all said the same exact things!
Then maybe you should make certain that you're not doing those things before handing your next book off to betas.
Seriously, problems with books are often in layers. Betas will often pick up on the most glaring few things that bothers them (along with tons of typos and niggles) with a story. But once that's cleaned up, there could be other things that were totally blotted out by the glaring things that are still wrong and need to be tended to.
If a writer can get to the point where all the glaring things are tended to before handing it to their betas, then the individuality of the betas' perceptions will start coming out. And if the usually glaring problems crop up here and there, it's just a "Oh, you're doing that again" comment along with lots of other comments. It doesn't have the same effect on the ms.
Also remember that being a beta/CP means that it's not just handing over a "writer do list" and walking away. A good beta will have discussions with you, answer questions as they come up, and maybe have questions for you as well. That's one of my hints that this person is worth holding onto, honestly.
