Do any of you work with beta readers? If so, how did you find them? Do you have someone who reads your work and offers feedback on the points you know need addressing?
Years ago I joined a critique group, and whilst it was good experience, I don't want to travel down that road again. I found myself having to make comments on genres I never read, so always felt my comments were useless.
How can I find a beta reader to share chapters with where we offer mutual help on points such as clarity, ease of reading etc.
Any information on sites you know of will be gratefully received.
Thanks
I used to use beta readers. My first draft was seriously ropey and my lovely friends waded through it, bless them. One of them was partcularly good at spotting bad grammar and inserting the commas I hadn't bothered with. No, really, there were hardly any!
Having my pages come back with so many corrections I decided my grammar and punctuation weren't strong enough so I read a few books on the subject, read a few more novels with what I'd learned in mind and then returned to my work to edit.
From a grammar and punctuation point of view I'm now reasonably confident in my work but I needed those first beta readers to get me to this stage. Personally I prefer people I can see because, firstly, if they decide to lie you can usually tell and, secondly, you then understand their educational background and whether they are qualified to give the help they're offering.
I once put my first page on a website for people to comment. Some of the criticism was really helpful, although blunt, and led me to really look into point of view. (I was hopping from person to person and confusing the reader.) But they also gave me some bad advice about punctuation. So, as I say, these days I prefer to be face-to-face and know something of their background so I can judge if they are still suggesting the breathing commas their primary school teacher taught them forty years ago, if they are telling you to punctuate like a business report, or if they actually know what they're talking about.
Thank you both, I have just registered on the site, it looks really good.
Jonathan lol at your comment about the wife..... you wouldn't have her any other way!
I agree with Linda - YWO were a big help with my first book. Readers can pass on assigned excerpts not to their taste but I found critiques from readers who might not necessarily choose your story or genre in a bookshop often provided useful comments. Plus they can help you grow a thick skin!
I use one beta-reader: a friend who's familiar with both my HF period and subject. He'll point out any research or timeline failings or if he thinks any part of the story doesn't work. I also use the wife, who knows little about the period but will soon put the story down if it flags or has glaring grammatical/spelling/punctuation errors.
The danger with using friends or relatives is they may be reluctant to criticise, so one has to be careful. I've never had that problem with the wife, though ;)