My Thoughts on Paid Beta Reading

Note that all my thoughts below are working theories. The more I get into the business side of self publishing, the more, as with writing, I learn I don't know.

First, some thoughts on developmental editing (Story) versus copy editing (Writing/grammar):

1. I've read a lot of reviews lately, and I've noticed a trend. Readers will write stuff like:

Too many typos. The plot was inconsistent. Wasn't it convenient that ... 3 stars.

But they also write:

But I'm going to buy the next book!

For self respect reasons, I want my book to be as error free as possible, but on the business side, I think that time spent on copy editing issues are, to some degree, a waste of resources. My own tastes bear this out; I'm one of the pickiest readers that you'll find. Despite that, there are at least two horrible writers whose work I devour on a regular basis because I like their characters and stories.

2. I just got up, walked outside, and threw a rock. I hit a copy editor. The rock bounced off and hit a dozen more. They're everywhere!

Frankly, it doesn't seem to take a lot of skill to learn grammar and the standards put forth in the CMoS.

Granted, some copy editors are better at smoothing out your writing than others, but if you're going to self publish, your manuscript probably should be pretty decent before even getting that far.

3. Good developmental editors who can actually diagnose issues with Story and recommend treatments are hard to find.

Thus, it seems to me that developmental editing, then, is much more valuable than copy editing. Here's my issue: If I can find a developmental editor who can truly fix my story, she'd be completely worth the money. I know this because I found someone like that. Neither my book nor my overall writing would be where it is without her. Unfortunately, she's not on Elance anymore and hasn't responded to multiple emails.

So in searching for an new developmental editor, I quickly determined that I got really lucky with her. People who claim to be developmental editors mainly seem to be offering the service of error checking your manuscript for continuity.

Not that that isn't a good thing, but as far as readers go, I'm not sure it's worth the expense.

So I'm left with a problem. I'd love to have someone's input on how to fix my story, but it's a huge risk to pay someone hundreds of dollars and not get any actionable ideas for making the story better. So here's my thought:

Instead of paying one editor $5/1000words, pay 3 "beta readers" $1/1000 words.

I pay less and have 3x the chances of finding actionable help.

Here's my first experience paying for beta reading:

1. Elance for Abuse of Power

Granted, I did not give detailed instructions. I just posted, "Hey, need a beta reader."

The person I got seemed like a competent copy editor. Her overall comment was, "I found three punctuation/wording errors. Other than that, I liked the book."

Though I'm glad to have the 3 errors corrected, probably not worth the $40.

2. Frostbite Publishing for Abuse of Power

For $30, they gave me a very detailed document with opinions expressed for each chapter. The sheer volume of paperwork was impressive.

Almost zero actionable help, though. Basically, the beta reader liked each chapter.

So after shelling out $70, I found out that my novella was perfect and that everyone was going to like it. Well, I didn't get to improve it, but I at least found out that it didn't need improving, right?

That would have been good to know ... if I could trust that input.

Subsequent to getting that feedback, I sent AoP to Nimue from these boards. She found multiple opportunities for improvement. I wish that she charged for her services; I'd send all my stuff to her.

Bottom Line: If I can find the right beta reader, it's definitely worth it. I just have to keep looking until I find that person/people.

Plan for Repulsive:

The person I tried at Frostbite was new, and they have someone experienced in the superhero genre over there. I'm going to give them one more shot.

I paid a guy over at kboards $14 to do a full developmental edit for a short story. There was a high noise to signal ratio in his comments, but he did provide some good actionable insight. He offers beta reading as well, so I'm going to see what he can do with the novel.

For the third source, I'm going back to Elance, but I'm going to taylor my post much better to try to get what I want. It's still going to be hard to find someone, though. If I can, however, it'll be well worth the effort.

 

I agree with this big time. Definitely a huge plus!

Yep. The good thing is that I'm going to be writing a lot of shorter stuff in the near future. At $1/1000words, it's pretty inexpensive to experiment.

 

I think it's really awesome if:

1. You know exactly what you want out of the elancer.
2. You're able to communicate exactly what you want.
3. You can weed out the elancers who apply even when they don't have the skills you need.

 

I think there are three different things:

1. A beta reader - someone who approaches the book as a reader and gives you feedback from a reader's perspective.
2. A developmental editor - someone who understands the structure of stories and can diagnose fundamental problems.
3. A copy editor - someone who can help tighten prose, fix grammar and punctuation issues, and make sure you're conforming to CMoS standards.

In an ideal world, I'd use all three. In this world, I don't quite have the resources.

For my latest novel, I sent my manuscript to 4 average readers and to 3 paid beta readers. I'm hoping that the paid beta readers combined can give me the kind of input that a good developmental editor would have given me for less cost. I will employ a copy editor at the final stage.

My biggest problem with developmental editors - there are a lot more people out there who think they add value with this service than who actually are able to add value by providing this service. It is hard to find people who really understand stories at a fundamental level and who can really diagnose underlying problems.

 

Yep. The lady who did the developmental edit for Rise of the Mages was fantastic. Unfortunately, she's not on Elance anymore and doesn't respond to emails sent to her personal email address.

Bummer.

 

I think that this is it more than anything.

I think that I define pretty well exactly what I want. The issue is that most people think they can deliver what I want, but they can't. The good thing is that, at $1/1000 words, I can afford to try them out, especially on my shorter pieces. And rarely do I ever get absolutely no value in return.

Truthfully, the more I do paid beta reading, the more I like the advantage of 1) not committing my own time for the reciprocal part of it and 2) being able to trust that I'll get feedback on time.

 

My 2nd Experience with Paid Beta Reading:

Source 1 - A new freelancer from Elance $70:

This time, I was a lot more specific about what I wanted. My job posting specified that I wanted opinions on how to make my story better. In a day's time, I got about 10 responses, and before the guy I ended up choosing answered, I strongly considered one of them.

Overall, I'm torn with the overall results. He did a great job of pointing out my weaknesses - 1) not enough description, 2) the POV character thinking too much when he should be acting, and 3) my main character came across as way too whiny. Fixing these issues will definitely make the story better. On the other hand, they don't add much from a storytelling/structural standpoint.

Source 2 - A developmental editor I found at Kboards $55:

I used him before for a short story and, overall, liked his comments. Some of the things he points out are major Whiskey Tango Foxtrot moments, but he also asks questions that push me to make my story better. This guy is well worth the money. Not quite as good as the developmental editor I had for Rise of the Mages, but pretty durn good.

Source 3 - a beta reading company found on kboards $56:

The format of their responses is - I liked this and didn't like that. Any inconsistencies? What I ended up getting back was, "I liked this, this, and this." While that information is kinda sorta useful in a way, it doesn't help me make the story better. In the end, I literally only got one measly actionable suggestion from this beta reader. This is my second experience with this company, and I'm just not impressed. I'll not be using them again.

Overall, the combination of the first 2 sources are going to help me make major improvements. I think I'll try to reuse both of them for my next project and replace the 3rd source with someone new.

EDIT: I think, overall, paid beta reading is a good substitute for paying a developmental editor. If I would have solicited developmental editing on Elance, I'd have probably paid the same or more than I did for the three sources above combined, and it's doubtful that I'd have gotten the same amount of actionable suggestions.

 

Mark,

I think that exchanging beta reading services is a great idea when you're starting out. I learned almost as much from critiquing others' work as I did from having my own critiqued.

Once you start thinking about improving the efficiency of your process, however, beta reader exchanged have two big drawbacks:

1. It takes me 5-10 hours minimum to read a novel and give feedback on it. That's time I could be spending doing other things.

2. I've found that people I pay money to are a lot more dependable, especially in terms of schedule, than people I'm not paying.