When is it too soon to get beta readers?

[Marscaleb]

I've been going back and forth on getting some beta/alpha readers or not. I'm talking about paying for beta reading on Fiverr, because online writing communities tend to focus on smaller portions of writing, and its really hard to get people interested in reading anything I've got. So I'm considering hiring someone on Fiverr to beta read a story I'm working on.

But to that end, I worry that it's just too son for that. I don't have the whole novel written, just the first three chapters. So I can't get any advice about my story's structure and plot and so forth, and even things like pacing and info-dumping may be difficult to pin down because its hard to see how these things fit into the larger narrative.
But I do genuinely want some feedback on what I've written; I want to know if the writing is any good, I want to know if it sounds like the start of a good story or not.
But if I come into a reading gig asking vague questions like that, then will I really be getting any worthwhile responses? Even if I get valuable insight, how valuable would it be if I might later find I need to revise a bunch of stuff for plot reasons? I could be dropping a fair chunk of change and not be able to get the feedback that I really need.
But also at the same time, I just feel so hungry for feedback. I've made a lot of growth as a writer in the last year or two, and I don't really know where I stand. Has the growth been in the right direction? Is my growth an illusion? And I'm not so sure that I want to spend another year or two trying to finish this story on my own before I find out if its even a story worth finishing.

Well, maybe I just need to vent a little bit and sleep on it. But I would appreciate any thought anyone here has on the subject. How do I know when its a good time to pay for some feedback? How do I preface it to make sure I get good feedback?

 

[pmmg]

I would not seek a beta reader if the book is not finished. And I am not sure I would want to pay for one.

You are right, its very hard to get readers for the whole story, and probably harder still to get them from people who are actively writing their own. But, best I can suggest is offering to beta read back in return and hope someone bites.

 

[Prince of Spires]

By definition, you can't ask for a beta read without the story being finished. A beta read is a reader reading your whole story once it's as good as you can make it. They provide feedback on how they feel about the story. So you need a finished story.

An Alpha reader is someone who reads either a work in progress or a rough first (or second) draft. So before you're polished it. Again though, they focus on the whole story. About what they like or how they feel about it. They're closer to a critique partner.

These kinds of people exist of course. I don't know if you can find paid versions of them. Usually you find them as a writing group, where each writer reads and comments on the WiP of the others. It works for some people, and not for others. Some people benefit from getting comments on their WiP. It makes their story better and helps them moving forward. For others, they are too distracted by the feedback and try to create the story the other writers want to see.

The only way to see if it works for you is to try it.

Another option is of course to post a smaller piece on the forum in the critique corner and get feedback there. That will mainly be about structure and word choice etc. And not so much about the plot itself.

You can also find professional editors who do paid partial critiques. For instance on the first 20 or 50 pages or something like that. Search online and see what you find.

For most of them though, I would only look for critiques once the writing is as good as you can make it. Especially if you're going to be paying for it.

And, if you've never actually finished a novel (assuming that's what you're writing), then I would be cautious of doing so. A big risk is that you end up rewriting the same few opening chapters over and over again. Finishing a novel is a skill in itself. You need to do so as much as writing the beginning. And it's hard to know what you're writing in the beginning if you don't have the end yet. It's not unusual to have to start a story in a completely different place. Or to simply have to remove a few chapters.

 

[skip.knox]

I agree about a writing group. When I was working on my first novel I was in such a group. The valuable part was less the comments I received from other members of the group, and more the comments I was required to make on *their* work. The process of acting as editor for someone else taught me a great deal. A second benefit, very nearly as helpful, was acquiring the discipline to produce both my own work and my commentaries on the work of others on a regular basis. It was the difference between seeing the benefit of regular work and actually doing regular work.

Those benefits can accrue without your having to finish the book, so it's fine to go looking now. But for actual beta readers, it's too soon. See the other posts on this thread.

 

[pmmg]

Oh yeah... should've said that as well. Reviewing others is the best way to get good at editing yourself as well. Do a lot of that. Go join Scribophile and start reviewing stuff there. They have an endless amount.

 

[casval]

I've always waited until I had a finished draft - usually a second draft - before passing it around for beta reading. Sometimes I'll throw a sentence or short segment of a scene into my writing group chats if I have a specific question about it - like "hey, my character is reading her aunt's will, does the wording seem formal enough in this?" - but I've never passed around a full chapter on its own for criticism. And I definitely wouldn't pay for it.

But I have beta read for people who write web novels, which are published chapter-to-chapter. If I were looking for a beta reader with experience working on a chapter on its own, groups for web novelists might be a good place to start!

 

[Marscaleb]

Go join Scribophile and start reviewing stuff there. They have an endless amount.

Thanks for the recommendation; I'll check them out.
I have a vague memory of having seen this site before but I must have lost the link or something.