How can someone become a beta reader?
We have several questions on beta readers, including this one on how writers can find beta readers. How does it work from the other side? How can a non-beta reader make the "jump" and start beta reading?
There is a question here on how someone who is already a beta reader can improve their beta reading skills, but that's a different kind of opposite to my question. If a person more-or-less already has what it takes to be a beta reader but they lack the social connections (e.g. they are unknown to writers, don't have provable experience, don't have any letters at the end of their name, etc.) to get that first beta reading opportunity, how, generally, can that be overcome?
Are there any best practices for getting "spotted" as an up-and-coming beta reader?
- Should one attempt to join and lurk around writers' groups, and, when asked, say that one is there to become a beta reader?
- Should one become a writer and gain recognition as such as a necessary prerequisite to qualifying as a beta reader, even if writing is not one's goal or interest?
- Is there a formal qualification to earn that signals to writers that one is ready to start beta reading (e.g. a degree, diploma, certification, high score on a literacy test, etc.)?
- Are there organizations that one can apply to to be matched with an aspiring writer?
This is not intended to be a primarily opinion-based question, at least not any more than the questions we have here already about finding beta readers. I'm asking about best practices, or typical practices if best practices do not exist.
If it is essentially impossible to become a beta reader of one's own initiative (e.g. if initial beta reading opportunities for readers with no beta-reading experience are typically only given out to people who find themselves in the right place at the right time, and identifying how to locate the right place and identify the right time is essentially impossible), that's an answer.
If the best practice differs by genre, that's also an answer. E.g., "If you want to beta read romance, call this number for placement. If you want to read SFF, call this other number. If you are primarily interested in mystery, you need to pass the National Advanced Examination in Mystery Literature with a score of at least 80%. If you want to beta-read children's books, you need to be a licensed public school teacher, school librarian, pediatrician, or child psychologist."
This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/36707. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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Great question!
A great difficulty here is that there's not really much in the way of "professional beta readers." Someone who's really known for giving excellent feedback, and offers that as a service, is pretty much an editor of some stripe.
So aiming to become "well-known", "popular", or "respected" as a beta reader might not be in the cards (although it's not impossible!). And turning into something paid is... well, it's really hard, because it's asking people to trust and pay you, in an area where it's really hard to Show Your Work, and where you've got a lot of competition that's a lot safer.
But you can certainly become a good and busy beta reader. And that's pretty darn doable.
Beta-Read on Online Workshops
This is something anybody can do. Sign up to Critters, dive into Absolute Write, check out Scribophile -- all of these give an endless supply of material to beta-read. Some of them have even more: community, social connections, and/or guidance on becoming a better beta.
There is a catch: this is mostly going to be amateur work; often painfully so. For two reasons:
- Most writing is amateur work. There are a lot more people who want to be published authors than people who are published, so you're going to have a lot of very unpolished material.
- Pro authors level themselves out of the big general slush pool pretty quickly. Basically, you find five people who (a) you get along with, (b) are happy to beta-read on occasion, and (c) you find helpful -- and you never have to enter the crapshoot of an online public workshop again.
BUT. If you're just getting started, then working with amateurs is great. It will let you learn. You'll be finding your feet, learning your own taste, and figuring out how to give feedback that's helpful, constructive, and clear.
And, the fact that most of the work will be amateurish, doesn't mean you won't find absolute gems. I certainly have.
Establish a Niche Where You Can Form Connections
If you are active in any community that's even partially related to writing, you can often do really well by making connections within a small, focused group, that would be much harder if you were just hanging out your shingle for anybody in the world.
If you have any particular hobbies or fandoms, some of those people probably like writing. If you are, as so many of us are, living in a particular geographical location, there are probably a whole bunch of writers nearby. Maybe they go to the library; maybe they already have critique circles you can join.
What's nice about these is that they're personal connections that last much longer than the critique of any one manuscript or story. Make a good connection with one writer, and you'll probably get to beta-read a whole bunch of their work. You'll be friends on social media, and see when they're looking for readers. When other people are looking for readers, your friend can point them to you. Actual connections get you far.
Hang Out On Bookish/Writerly Social Media
There is so much of this, and being involved will drop opportunities in your lap. People who need beta readers will ask for them -- and you can volunteer.
Follow authors you love. Follow authors who say interesting things. Follow newbie authors writing about being a newbie author. Join social media groups for writers. I've gotten a bunch of really interesting reads, just by following some awesome people, who pointed me at something interesting that one particular time.
Consider Slush-Reading or Reviewing
Neither of these are the same things as beta-reading. But they will work on the same muscles, and they'll also put you in the right arena -- meeting writers, establishing a reputation.
Slush-reading means reading unsolicited short story manuscripts for a magazine, and writing up comments to the editor. It's much briefer and coarser-grained than beta-reading -- but it is evaluating manuscripts, and even working with an editor (to some degree). Check out magazines (especially online magazines) in fields that you like. See if they're open for applications.
And reviewing -- anybody can open a blog and start reviewing. Gaining an audience is much harder. But you can start out for practice, and to build yourself a little online home-base. And, you might consider looking for existing, established sites which publish reviews. Again, a review is very very different from a beta-read -- it's aimed at the readers, or at prospective readers, not at the author -- but it's still a very helpful skill to develop.
Talk About Beta Reading
Let people know! Tell friends and followers that you enjoy beta-reading, and that you'd love them to send material your way.
Especially tell this to writers you beta read, and especially the ones you enjoyed working with -- they're likely to write something else next, and you'd love it if they went right to you and wanted your feedback.
I hope this helps make sense of things, gives you a sense of options, and offers some concrete things you can do next. All the best!
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my name is Robert and I'm an Beta Reader. This answer is based on my experience.
I started cataloguing my books (the ones I owned and those I intended to read) on Goodreads in 2013. Since then I have consistently recorded and reviewed each book that I have read. I had only started reviewing for a short while before I started to receive requests to review books in return for a free copy.
I am happy to do this because, duh - it's free books, but also because I like to explore different kinds of fiction, and what better way to do this than to read new and up-coming stuff.
I would say that the only qualification you need to succeed as a beta-reader is to be enthusiastic and wide-ranging in your reading habits and to be capable to putting together a decent (constructive) review. It also helps if you're willing to post that review in as many places as possible (with Goodreads and Amazon being top of the pile).
Good luck going forward, in all your endeavours.
This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/36720. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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