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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/47880
License name: CC BY-SA 4.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/47880
License name: CC BY-SA 4.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

At this point you need one of two things, either time or someone you trust to tell you the truth.

The problem with most beta readers is that they are friends or acquaintances and they don't want to upset you or jeopardize your relationship. I recently did a beta read for a friend and basically told her she had to start over. I was on tenterhooks after I delivered this message, because I feared I might have wrecked the friendship. (I hadn't, thank goodness.) But the risk is very real, and we have a natural inclination to encourage our friends, which can be fatal to effective critique.

So does that mean a professional editor would be a better alternative? Not necessarily. There is an entire industry devoted to flattering aspiring authors. There are a lot of them, so it is a lucrative field. Professional editors no doubt do a good job making good manuscripts better. But what about making bad manuscripts good? Only a very few exceptional editors are capable of that. But doing so involves telling an aspiring author that they have wasted months of effort and have to start over. That is not likely to go well, and it is likely to be bad for business. Not only will that author not come back, but they may badmouth you to their friends.

Fundamentally, an editor's business depends on people being happy with their services and telling them their book is crap is not a good way to make them happy.

And, frankly, most aspiring authors are never going to be able to produce a novel that is not crap. They just don't have it in them. The industry that exists to serve these people, from editors to writing teachers to conferences simply isn't going to tell these people the truth, which is that they should probably take up macrame instead. There is a built in economic motive for lying to them (err... encouraging them).

Best bet, though this is not easy, is to find another aspiring writer who is a serious as you are and wants a serious critique as much as you do, and make a blood pact to critique with total honesty without sparing feelings in any way.

When you are confident in your overall structure, then consider a professional editor, depending on how confident you are in your own ability to produce clean copy.

Original score: 10