Hey all! Wanted to rant a bit as a beta reader. I used to beta read a lot, but had to do it a lot less since it sometimes angered me and i couldn't finish the read. Therefore, a small list of complains (and maybe a list of things to avoid for authors seeking betas). Beforehand i say that this concerns first time exchanges, of course when authors and readers are friends things are different. 1) We are here to help, but we have a life too. When you are contacting beta readers, please give a timetable (like "i need the comments in 1 week") and do not give small deadlines (already hapenned for an author to give a 36h deadline once i said i was interested after receiving an email) 2) We are not here to steal your ideas. Now most authors give googledocs files (easy to comment and reead on the go). Giving only pdf or files you can't edit and say "oh, just say the page and a the line that causes problems in a separate spreadsheet" is a pain since many (most) readers don't carry several devices on them for this purpose 3) Beta reading is not ARC. If the book comes out in 3 days, its a bit late for changes. You need arc, not beta. 4) Say wich kind of comments you are looking for. I always ask it, but things like consistency and grammar check are not the same. 5) Please have an editor go through it before requesting beta. Sometimes there is so much spelling and grammar issues it becomes hard to read. Or ask for a beta edit directly Sorry, just had to rant a bit....
oh and 6) we do it for free and because we love it, but please have a thank you page/paragraph (most do but a few don't)
I completely forgot to put a thank you in the front matter! Thanks for the reminder. (I know you didn't beta for me, but still, I didn't want to forget.)
I always thank my beta readers in my back matter/acknowledgements. It's not a matter of being nice, it's a matter of making sure they know they're appreciated.
