Why I Don’t Work With Beta Readers Anymore

In certain circles, beta readers are almost considered some sort of holy grail. They’ve gone from a relatively obscure fanfic concept to becoming hyper-mainstream. Tons of indie authors (and even some trad authors) now employ them in their process. There are even people who claim to be “professional” beta readers and charge for their services.

I, personally, don’t work with beta readers in my process anymore. Here’s why beta reading hasn’t worked out for me.

WTF Is a Beta Reader?

Before I dive into why I don’t work with beta readers, let’s answer another question. What is a beta reader?

That, my friends, is a more difficult question to answer than you might think!

In days of yore, beta readers were quite simply the friends you foisted your fanfic on. You usually gave them direction to read it over for stupid mistakes before you posted it.

Basically, they were proofreaders but without the title of proofreaders. (You can’t actually proofread something if it’s not typeset, btw.) In any case, they were a second set of eyes—beyond yours—on your fic.

Lots and lots and lots of people did not use beta readers—or editors, or any kind of editing software. So most fic was posted seat-of-your-pants, zero editing. (That’s where the meme “no beta, we die like men” comes from.)

Since that time, though, the concept of a “beta reader” has evolved. As I noted, the idea is more mainstream now, often employed by indie authors. That makes some degree of sense. Plenty of indie authors got their start in fanfic, so the concept of having a beta reader was familiar.

What about Alpha Readers?

More recently, there’s been talk of “alpha” readers, who are more like developmental or substantive editors. They’re the first readers to look at a story. They’re then asked to provide commentary on things like plot structure or character arcs. That, traditionally, is more what a dev edit is for.

So, now we’re somewhat clear:

• Alpha readers = developmental/substantive editors
• Beta readers = copy editors/proofreaders

Wait, Don’t We Have Professionals to Do This Stuff?

Yeah. Therein is my first qualm with the whole alpha/beta reader complex that’s springing up in publishing these days. While I totally play by the maxim “the more eyes, the better,” I’m somewhat uncomfortable with the use of alpha and beta readers.

Basically, alpha readers are doing the jobs of dev/sub editors and beta readers are doing the jobs of copy editors/proofreaders. In the classic scenario, though, beta readers are unpaid. In the fanfic space, unpaid labor makes sense—fics aren’t published for profit. The author is making no money. It makes sense they aren’t paying people to “beta read” (read: copy edit) their stories. Their work is a labor of love and, in the fanfic space, so too is any editing. Everyone is an unpaid volunteer.

When we move into publishing, where we’re producing products to make profit, unpaid alpha and beta reading is exploitation. Sure, you may have fans who are super excited to get a glimpse at your next book and give you some feedback. At the same time, you’re asking these people to do work that you would normally pay someone else to do. And you’re asking them to do it for free.

So, Just Pay People, Right?

The simple answer might be “just pay beta readers!” That doesn’t truly solve the issue though. Rather, we end up with a conflation or “too many cooks in the kitchen.” If an alpha reader is doing dev/sub editing work and a beta reader is a copy editor, then just hire editors.

A professional “beta reader” might be better off calling themselves a proofreader or a copy editor. That’s essentially what they’re doing, and that is the service the author needs.

So, paid alpha and beta readers are duplicating work. Very few book projects have extra money to be tossing around on editing. So why are we hiring alpha readers and beta readers and dev eds and copyeditors and proofreaders? All this is doing is causing confusion on the editorial side of things and jacking up costs, while also depressing wages for everyone.

I’m quite serious. If alpha and beta readers charge “less” because they don’t have the same titles as other editors, what’s to stop publishers from simply dropping editors and working with “readers” alone? Work then becomes more difficult to find for professionals who hold the more traditional titles, and they can’t charge as much. The alpha and beta readers, who are doing the same labor as the editors, are getting paid less to do the same work. This is a lose-lose situation for all of these workers.

And yet, as I said, not paying your readers is also exploitative, to some degree.

My personal opinion here is simply that alpha and beta readers—especially those who claim they are “pro” and want to be paid—should simply ensure they’re qualified and change their titles to what they actually should be: dev eds and copyeditors.

Why I Stopped Working with Beta Readers

Okay, so after that rant, you might think my primary concern with hiring beta readers is monetary or maybe even concern about being exploitative.

Actually, time is my big problem. Working with multiple people on a manuscript takes more time to coordinate.

In the past, I have worked with some absolutely fantastic beta readers. I was definitely gun-shy at first, having had bad experiences in the fanfic space when I was first starting out. But I connected with some wonderful people who gave me excellent feedback and made my prose more polished and my stories stronger. I am forever indebted to them.

Over time, however, we’ve drifted apart. The stories I’m telling are not necessarily the stories they wish to read these days. That’s fine; it’s a natural evolution. I am still thankful for the insights I was given for the stories we worked on together, and I always will be.

In the same span, however, time has also become more and more of a factor. I’ve been slower at getting manuscripts ready for editing, and my editing schedules have been more crunched. In turn, that leaves precious little time for my editor to do her work.

I’m more comfortable asking my editor to crunch a schedule and do things faster, because she’s a paid worker. My beta readers have been volunteers, which means I am asking them to donate their time out of the goodness of their hearts. In turn, I’m not comfortable asking someone to crunch their timeline to get back to me ASAP. I want my beta readers to have a good, long lead time. That’s not something I’ve been able to provide for a lot of my more recent books.

A Lack of Interest

Another issue I’ve noted is a lack of interest. I’ve put out a few calls for beta readers, but I’ve received zero inquiries, even when I’ve used multiple networks to put out the call. That is … disheartening, but it also speaks to the crunched timelines I’m using at the moment and how precious everyone else’s time is.

There’s also, often, disagreement or confusion about what the beta reader’s role is. I’ve had beta readers who submit the kind of feedback I want without any direction at all. I’ve had others provide mostly mechanical feedback, which is often helpful (there is a reason I say more eyes on a work are better!).

And I’ve had still others simply ghost me. I’m not sure if they signed up to get early access to the work with no intention of leaving feedback; take the work and pirate it; or if they simply ended up running out of time or got bored of the story and dipped out or whatever. But the fact remains: I shared the work and got crickets.

Of course, nothing will top the volunteer I had back in my fanfic days, who “corrected” all of my (already correct) uses of “it’s/its” and “your/you’re,” such that I had to revert them all. I didn’t have the heart to tell them, so I just did it silently. Yet I continued sending them chapters for quite some time. I could have handled the situation much differently, but that experience soured me on “beta readers” for a very long time. It still makes me hesitant to share my work before it’s ready for publication.

Will I Ever Go Back to Beta Readers?

Maybe! I know there is a network of people who exchange beta reading services, and I do like that idea. I’m always a little leery of offering myself as a beta reader. I’m a professional editor; although my methodology is collaborative, my feedback can feel overwhelming. It’s probably polar opposite to what you get out of a lot of beta readers (looking at you, my ghosties).

The other issue is, of course, time. Personally, I need a long lead time with stuff, because I am usually swamped with work. I am also hesitant to provide services pro bono when I could be doing work that I’m getting paid for—which is what keeps a roof over my head. So beta reading, as volunteer work, always goes by the wayside in the battle between paid and unpaid activities.

I’m reading much more for pleasure these days, though, so I think I could possibly get into some volunteer beta reading, wherein there’s a mutual exchange of services.

That’s also giving back to my community—I am a professional editor, but I know not everyone can afford a pro editor’s services. (I try to keep my pricing low and flexible, especially for indies.)

Right now, though, I’m the primary income earner in our household, while also not having childcare. Even when childcare is sorted, my husband is holding down both a job and full-time school, so I will remain both the breadwinner and the primary childcare provider in our household—which is going to tax my time.

Perhaps, then, I’ll return to beta reading in the future—when I have both time to give my beta readers a very long lead with my manuscripts, and when I myself have time to offer back to my community.

Beta Readers Have Their Place

All of this is to say I think beta readers have their place, in spaces where volunteerism is a good thing. That can include indie publishing, where it becomes an exchange and a form of community building. The same is true in fan spaces. And it can—and does—exist in author spaces already, with critique partners and author groups.

What we might need to be careful of is the terminology we’re using. Is someone being billed as a “beta reader” so we can skirt paying them or otherwise justify paying less? If so, then we need to make sure we’re clear about what a beta reader’s role is and take steps to minimize exploitation.

When I feel I can meet those goals again, then I hope to work with beta readers once more.