Beta or Share Your Work - Options

[Lintlicker]

It's vista. For future reference, it's in the description of the SYW forum.

Thank you :0

 

[Nimyth]

SYW is a very good and useful tool. I have found it to be very helpful. Sometimes though as in my case I have some issues in my WIP that needs someone who is willing to read a couple of chapters, as the problem is not going to be something that can be shown/worked out with just the 1000 word limit for the SYW forum.

 

[Nimyth]

First Chapter?

I think that even with a finished, polished work, that someone seeking a beta reader should perhaps post the first chapter *somewhere* when they are seeking a beta reader.

Perhaps I am confused or misread the suggestions. In the SYW it is suggested I thought, that you limit the post to 1000 words. My chapters are fairly short, and several of them including my first exceed the 1000 word limit for SYW

 

[napow27]

Looking for Beta Readings and Folks that need Beta Readers

Hi,

I am looking for beta readers for my book, The Gentleman, currently being edited. I also want to extend my service as a beta reader to anyone interested ping me @na_pow on twitter.

 

[rixbills]

I'd like to second the recommendation for posting work at the appropriate Share Your work board. While beginners can learn a great deal from the Advice for Newbies post, they'll learn more from feedback--and so do many of us who are not at all new to writing.

Besides valuable input about a particular chapter or story, I've found SYW a great place to identify potential beta readers. By cruising my genres' boards (not just my own posts' replies), I can determine who's in sync with me, who just doesn't seem to get it, whose advice is vague, who's got great suggestions for improvement, who's good on overview, who's the nitpicker to die for, and so on.

Depending on what I think my work most needs, that's the pool from which I hope I can draw betas. I PM a few. Even when someone has to refuse due to time constraints or other commitments, most are pleased to have been asked, especially when I tell them which of their critiques led to my request. Who doesn't like to hear his or her efforts praised?

In my own experience, this works a whole lot better than a writer who's never posted work (or posted much on any of the writing boards) seeking beta readers at that board. Few people are able to commit to beta-ing a whole novel without having seen enough of a person's writing to determine whether they're a good fit, you know?

Maryn, able to get betas

As a newbie poster, thank you.

 

[Jinnambex]

This was a helpful thread to a new AW user! I've been active every day now for a few weeks! I am learning a lot, and I can't wait to hit 50 posts and share the first chapter of my work (in SYW, of course).

 

[travelgal]

Given that my chapters are between 3000 and 7000 words long, I can't post on SYW, so I need a beta-reader. My novel is told from nine viewpoints total, mainly from the MC's in third person, interspersed with first person excerpts (none from the MC) between each third-person chapter.

 

[abbyapplejack]

Given that my chapters are between 3000 and 7000 words long, I can't post on SYW

Ugh same. My shortest are just over 3000 and my longest just under 6000! I'd have to post an excerpt of my first chapter.

 

[Turbulent Flow]

Skimming this thread has been an interesting experience. I shall have to go over it more carefully. I'm new to fiction writing but hope to abandon before long the drab clanking of content-mill production for the silence of unicorns drifting into the mist and the roar of rockets arriving on Mars.

As you can see from the rocket reference, I grew up with Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein and dozens of other greats from the Golden Age of brash science fiction and fantasy. Oddly enough, Peter S. Beagle came much later.

My first short stories and my first novel have been slowly emerging from the clay of imagination. We shall see how that turns out.

 

[Doug Egan]

I've been reading through this thread to learn what other users think a "beta reader" is. I've written two novel length works, neither of them published, and now working on a third. I belonged to non-virtual writing groups when I was working on the earlier two projects. What I found was that writing groups were willing to give detailed feedback on individual chapters, but that it was really hard to recruit someone to read the whole thing. It was a little unnerving, because it made me think my chapters themselves were not engaging enough to recruit a reader. But an author of long-form fiction or nonfiction would also like to know if the whole thing holds together, if the story arc is well designed, if the character evolution is well done.

I don't have 50 posts yet, so I can't post in SYW, but I'm a little concerned I'll have the same issue. I'll receive good feedback on individual chapters, but no one to read the whole thing.

 

[NateCrow]

I've been reading through this thread to learn what other users think a "beta reader" is. I've written two novel length works, neither of them published, and now working on a third. I belonged to non-virtual writing groups when I was working on the earlier two projects. What I found was that writing groups were willing to give detailed feedback on individual chapters, but that it was really hard to recruit someone to read the whole thing. It was a little unnerving, because it made me think my chapters themselves were not engaging enough to recruit a reader. But an author of long-form fiction or nonfiction would also like to know if the whole thing holds together, if the story arc is well designed, if the character evolution is well done.

I don't have 50 posts yet, so I can't post in SYW, but I'm a little concerned I'll have the same issue. I'll receive good feedback on individual chapters, but no one to read the whole thing.

Yeah, I think I'm going to be in the same boat. I'm not really looking for a line by line breakdown of a chapter, but more of a high-level analysis of the story as a whole. At 80-90K words, it's a lot to ask of people but, at this point, it's what I need. I can focus on the smaller details once the major details of my story have been finalized.

 

[Sujetin]

Everybody: Please don't be so grim.
Last post here was in 2018! I've been doing this beta readers thing somewhere else and I find the whole thing to be a lot of fun! That's why I came here, so I could do both. Maybe I'm too cheerful, naïve, positive and whatever else you want to call it, but as a cranky middle aged woman who just found out a few weeks ago that reading can be a living, I call this place a good place to learn.

 

[Brigid Barry]

Everybody: Please don't be so grim.
Last post here was in 2018! I've been doing this beta readers thing somewhere else and I find the whole thing to be a lot of fun! That's why I came here, so I could do both. Maybe I'm too cheerful, naïve, positive and whatever else you want to call it, but as a cranky middle aged woman who just found out a few weeks ago that reading can be a living, I call this place a good place to learn.

Hey Sujetin. I strongly recommend going to the New Members board and introducing yourself. The mods will come by with some very helpful links, including some dos and Don'ts. If a thread hasn't been visited in five years you shouldn't reply to it (it's called Necroing the thread, and to my knowledge the only exception is the bewares section).

While your enthusiasm is admirable, it's also a bit off putting for someone no one knows to be asking to see their writing. I believe one of the mods already said most if not all of this...

 

[Unimportant]

as a cranky middle aged woman who just found out a few weeks ago that reading can be a living

I'm fully supportive of cranky middle-aged women, being one myself, and I'm fully supportive of liking to read, doing so myself, but reading can be a living is....not a thing I'm aware of? I mean, yes, professional book critics and reviewers get paid, but they're paid to comment on books based on their professional knowledge of craft and genre, not merely to read. Professional editors get paid, but they're paid to edit, not merely to read.

Sujetin, could you explain your goals with regards to beta-reading in more detail, please?

Editing to add:
Hundreds, thousands, of us here at Absolute Write act as beta readers for each other. None of us charge a penny. None of us would or could. If you want authors to pay you to read their book, this is really probably not the place to look for them.

 

[Maryn]

Is this where I say, Amen?

I, too, recognize your enthusiasm, but we direct new arrivals to the Newbie Guide and the FAQs when you register and the first time you log in because we want you to know what they say. Why? Because it spells out what we expect from you.

Like not necro-ing threads, as you did here. Like introducing yourself, as you did not. Like not using us as a springboard to your business venture as a beta reader somewhere elseweb.

Maryn, wet blanket

 

[Sujetin]

My mistake, I apologize. I was too exited to beta read here and gather experience. I gave the wrong impression and this is the result. I've been doing beta reading for free until now.
I read for fun and I read a lot, but I admit, I was afraid of this place because I didn't know what kind of things you'd ask me to read, so I had to specify as much as I could.
Oh, I tried to introduce myself, but the post said "No replies allowed", so I tried to create a post or thread and that's when you said I'm being spam and trying to charge. Thank you, I did learn, this is a place to learn.

 

[Unimportant]

My mistake, I apologize. I was too exited to beta read here and gather experience. I gave the wrong impression and this is the result. I've been doing beta reading for free until now.
I read for fun and I read a lot, but I admit, I was afraid of this place because I didn't know what kind of things you'd ask me to read, so I had to specify as much as I could.
Oh, I tried to introduce myself, but the post said "No replies allowed", so I tried to create a post or thread and that's when you said I'm being spam and trying to charge. Thank you, I did learn, this is a place to learn.

I think where we're crossing wires is that this is a community of writers. We talk about writing and publishing, we share our writing, we critique each other, we make suggestions about agents and markets to each other, etc. So someone joining the forum and, without looking around and getting a feel for the place, immediately posting in three different areas what comes across as "I like reading! I want free books to read! Send me your books! For free! I expect you to trust me not to do something unethical with the book, and to trust me to send you my comments about the book!" -- well, you can see what we're thinking, yeah? The possibilities are:

1. Plagiarist, gonna put their name on my book and sell it on Amazon.
2. Too cheap to buy books, just pure and simple wants free reads. I'll never hear back from them.
3. Is somehow gonna use my name, which I do NOT choose to reveal, to sell their services elsewhere.
4. Perfectly genuine reader who simply wants to help others out of the goodness of their heart, for no gain of their own, and who will probably become a very active critiquer here and a very positive, contributing member of the community.

(ETA: We're all hoping you will be #4, but this forum, like any forum, does get the occasional arsehat, user-abuser, and scammer, so we take a cautious approach when it comes to giving our email addresses and manuscripts to total strangers.)

 

[Maryn]

You can and should introduce yourself here. Make a new post, rather than replying to an old one.

I cannot urge new arrivals strongly enough to read the FAQs. They're vital to avoiding missteps when you're so new you don't yet understand the culture of this community. We want our new people to thrive.

Maryn