Where Do We Find Beta Readers?

In my previous blog we discussed what Beta readers do for us. Essentialy, they provide another pair of eyes to check grammer, punction, story flow, character development, character interaction, etc. We don't, IMHO, need that many Beta readers. Two or three will do nicely. The big question is - where do we find them?

I am going to expand on this thought in my next blog, but I think this is important to take into consideration when looking for a Beta reader. This is a working relationship - Beta readers have input, and essentially become part of our team. I watched recently as a writer that I know and hold in high esteem reached out on FB for Beta readers. She was clear about the genre, and about what she expected from them. I was very impressed!

The first place that I am going to mention is one that, to date, I have not made use of. However, I do post a lot of reviews on Goodreads, so I do have a foot in the door - a presence, if you will. The group is entited Beta Reader Group, and can be found on Goodreads. I just joined the group - we will see how this goes!

One suggestion that I have seen is to source your Beta readers from the writing community. Yes, we want Beta readers to understand the genre that we are writing in, but we also want to connect with them, to have them see the big picture of the book that we have written. Remember, Beta readers are reading an entire book, and giving feedback on the entire book, they are not just critiquing one part of your book. It is important that we connect with other authors - with good connections we can put out feelers for getting other authors to be our Beta readers - and we can do the same for them.

Absolute Write is an online writers group that has free registration. I have registered to see what they have to offer. The resources look good.

Upwork.com is a site where you register for free, and post a job. This does appear to be a site where you have to take a close look at services being offered.

Fiverr is an internet site that requires membership (which is free), with a large market where Beta readers can be found.

Beta Reader's Hub  is a source blog on tumblr.com for Beta readers, and those looking for Beta readers, can post.

Now that we know what Beta readers are, and have a few clues where to find them, in my next blog I am going to address things that we need to take into consideration when looking for one. Stay tuned.

(c) April 2018 Bonnie Cehovet

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