The time is what is being covered.
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While yes it is ideal to find a beta reader who is willing to give up his/her time to read your work, to do you a MASSIVE favour, they are nonetheless going above and beyond the call of normal friendship. That's why in the SYW forum, people remind the people who are getting a critique to thank the critquers because they are doing it out of the goodness of their heart.
Some people out there are not scammers and still charge to critique a work because of the time required. Also these legitimate critiquers tend to be editors for publishing houses, or have a lot of experience and knowledge, as opposed to say some random friend you choose to beta read. You are paying them also for their experience.
The key is to make sure the person is worth paying, that they are legitimate.
Words of Toothpaste wisdom, as usual!
I crit here because I can crit as little or as much as I like, and because many people here have commented on my own work in exchange.
But if I had to sit down before a manuscript with errors in spelling and grammar and punctuation, or with problems in characterization and plot and style, if I had to read that baby to the end and make notes on every page - heck yeah, I'd want to be paid for it too.
Not only that. If someone agrees to crit my work for free, then it would be brazen of me to say, please get it done in three weeks. I am dependent on their good will to get it finished in a timely fashion. And if they put it aside because of more pressing duties, I can not say, hurry up, please. If I have paid a professional, legitimate person with a good reputation I know exactly when I will get my work back, and that is important to me.
Critiquing takes time and is work, Blue. It is a service. Nothing is really free. When people offer critiques without charging a fee, they are either offering their time and efforts as a gift or as barter. By barter, I mean: 1) If I critique you, I can learn and grow through the process, 2) If I critique you, then you or others will critique me. Those who critique as a gift are often "paying it forward," doing for others what was once done for them.
Again, correct. And since I am simply not in a position--for reasons of time--to crit for someone else in return I would not ask anyone at this point. It's a huge undertaking if it is worth anything (a whole novel, I mean) and I don't expect people to do so out of the goodness of their heart.
For my first novel I used a crit service. She was wonderful. Not only was she worth every penny of the £300 I paid (for a 500 page ms), she afterwards passed the ms on to a fantastic agent, who took me on immediately and sold my book to a big publisher in a week.
In the UK it is quite the norm for many first time novelists to use a crit service, and there are quite a few very successful ones (successful, in that the critted books have have subsequently been published). Many of these services have connections to people in the publishing industry and can give you a referral. Many of them employ published authors.
One example in the US is Caroline Upcher, a well published novelist. She does not advertise and is definitely not a scam.