Hello fellow writers!
What are the best ways to find trustworthy beta readers that genuinely want to read your work from your experiences (i.e., naturally assuming there isn't just one good way)? This is the one area I haven't had any experience and want to go about it in the best way possible, especially since I was warned by multiple people to be careful about who I share my work with. That's the main reason why I feel extremely stuck on how to go about this in the most positive way.
Hello back atcha!
To find beta readers on this forum, you've got a few options.
1. When you have 50 posts, you can put up a request for beta readers in our
Beta Readers section.
2. When you have 50 posts, you can put up your opening scene and/or query letter in
Share Your Work, ask for critique, and note that you're looking for beta readers. (You can also do a combo of 1 and 2.)
3. You can join
Sage's annual beta project -- it's closed now, but there will be a new one at the start of 2026 -- where folks swap critiques and beta reads.
Elsewhere, there are betas for free/for hire on places like Reddit and stuff. But that's outside my experience.
To find
trustworthy betas -- that kinda depends on what you mean by trustworthy!
If you're worried they'll steal your work and publish it under their own name, well.....it
could happen, but it's unlikely because (a) self publishing a novel takes a lot of time and/or financial investment to create something anyone is going to pay money for, and (b) trying to get a trade press, large or small, to accept and publish a novel takes a lot of time and has a 99.99% failure rate.
If you're worried you'll get crap/useless feedback, or that the beta's response will be cruel and hurtful, then it's a good idea to check the person's track record. Here on AW, you can look at the feedback they've provided to other authors in Share Your Work. If you think their critiques are friendly and helpful and would be of use to you, that's the kind of beta reader you'll want to entice.
But also note that a lot of folks do beta swaps: I read yours, you read mine. Beta reading a novel is a LOT of work; I generally put somewhere between 20 and 200 hours into a beta read. So the beta reader needs to like your story idea, like your writing style/voice, and probably like you as a person! And if you're doing a swap, you'll be making the same commitment and won't want to take on something/someone you don't like. So get to know people, and their writing, before you get too far into it!