Here beta, beta. Come here little beta...
No luck so far. But I will keep trying. ;-)
Kidding aside, I do have some wonderings about the beta reader concept that I'm going to ramble about here for your reading pleasure. Because for some the beta is an important step. The test read with people who can give the writer an outside pov on their book. There are others who don't share their work until they submit, forgoing the beta stage for a jump into the shark tank approach (lovable sharks hopefully). But it's a decision we have to make. To find the test readers or not.
What is a beta reader?
- A beta reader is a reader who before a books release to the public (or sent out to in hopes of interest from publisher or agents) with a critical eye, with the aim of improving grammar, spelling, characterization, and general style.
Okay, there are a couple different types. Some will look at just the overall picture. They will look at the story as a general reader about the overall story and characters. Some of the minor details will be ignore so little comma misses and typos aren't viewed as important to point out. Others (those who have been editors themselves for example) may focus on the minutae and not as much on the overall story. This I notice in particular when looking at single chapters at a time. It's harder to see the overall picture in some cases and the technical notes can be helpful if the novel is ready for that. Some will cover all bases at once, which depending on the amount needed the write has to be ready to handle the information being offered them.
Sounds nice right? Helpful and such. Sure... So once you decide to go with the beta reader, the next question becomes: who?
I don't have that answer. I had a few writing friends that wanted to test read a couple of my novels but that was years ago and now that I'm getting close to having an edit done, those that offered aren't in touch anymore. So, I'm at square one in my search for a couple test readers. I even tried joining this group a blogger had where you could search and email others to maybe find a critique partner/beta reader. Didn't have any luck.
So, now to you.
Do you have a Beta reader?
Are you skipping the beta step?
What method to you recommend for finding a beta reader?
