Why Free Beta Readers Can Come at a Cost

New and unpublished authors will often hire beta readers to receive an insightful critique before submitting a manuscript to a publisher or self-publishing. The beta reader’s job is to read the manuscript as an actual reader would and present feedback on what works and what doesn’t, any styling or structural issues, plot holes or issues with characterisation, flow, grammar, pacing and so on.

Some authors who have multiple books under their belt or are writing a series of books have the ability to enlist existing readers of their books on social media, Goodreads or writing forums. This can be a valuable and free way to get feedback from fans who are familiar with the author’s writing style and know what to expect from that particular author.

First-time authors may not have the luxury of enthusiastic fans who are prepared to beta read their manuscripts for free. So invariably they fall back on family and friends to read their work. The major problem with enlisting family and friends is not that they are inexperienced when it comes to giving in-depth feedback but that they are reluctant to hurt the author’s feelings if the book has major flaws and requires substantial revision and may not even recognise this fact.

Aspiring writers are not always flush with cash so finding affordable beta readers to critique their work in a methodical way is essential. As experienced beta readers, we guarantee you a friendly and personalised service which will deliver valuable feedback in a report to assist your writing ambitions.

There is also the very real possibility that your manuscript will be ripped off in part or in its entirety by an unscrupulous operator who has claimed your work as their own and decided to sell it on Amazon, Apple iBooks or Smashwords under their own name. The following forum post on AbsoluteWrite claims that someone acting as a beta reader ‘borrowed’ some of the author’s work.

- Jodi L.

I just read your comments and am feeling deeply grateful. You've given me a new confidence that the subtleties I was hoping to convey are coming through to a caring and thoughtful reader. I will certainly work on the few words you suggested reconsidering. One one of them ("knacker") I was wondering about myself ... whether it had too many other meanings to be clear in that context. Indeed I struggled with hating to use the language of the era, but knowing it was how the characters would speak. I am glad you felt that was a reasonable choice. Also, as this was a new epilogue (after several tries that weren't working all that well), I am quite grateful that you've given it a stamp of approval. I do feel that I'm finally ready to send this book to agents... to let it out of my own little world. It's been a very long road of discovering this challenging craft, and readers like you make it worth it. Many thanks to you, and I quite expect I'll get back in touch for the next one. Rinse and repeat.... that's a writing life!
- Jodi L.
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- Heather P.

Thanks so much for this report, having had a quick read over I’m extremely happy with it. Everything that’s been said is fair, great food for thought and really helpful. I feel much more confident now about self-publishing, so kudos to the reader for not only doing this in such timely fashion but also with such style and understanding. - Heather P.
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- Mitchell L.

just wanted to thank you for your feedback when reading Last Man’s Last Stand. I found your feedback very fair and helpful. I especially appreciated all the examples you gave me in the notes sections. I am a new writer and I found those examples to be very helpful when studying how to improve my writing. I just wanted to write this up to show you my appreciation. Thank you. Mitch. - Mitchell L.
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- Jo D.

Thank you for the report. I like my premise for this work, but clearly I’m having trouble pulling it off. Thanks for catching so much.

Best,
Jo - Jo D.
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- Tom F.

Sorry it has taken so long to get to you. I’ve been swamped with day-job work. I also want to thank you for reading and providing thoughtful comments.

- Tom F.
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- Hanif M.

Thank you for your concise report which was quite helpful in highlighting the areas which need to be worked on in the manuscript. Indeed the middle part did seem to go off point and there is no need for several characters/situations.

Additionally your comments on the appropriate dialogue and South London lingo are well noted.

There were some attempts to highlight the disillusionment the protagonist faced when arriving Nigeria. That was also supposed to be part of his journey.

However It's clear that the manuscript does require a good plot overhaul/change in the sections mentioned

Naturally the services of a developmental and copy editor would be engaged. The point of this assessment was to ensure if the story had some potential.

Best regards

Hanif - Hanif M.
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- Rebecca R.

Thank you so much for the report. I am thrilled to receive this kind of feedback! It was so detailed and the reader made really insightful and useful suggestions. Please be sure to thank them for their thorough critique and kind comments. This was beyond helpful for me as well as reassuring that the book is worth my continued hard work. - Rebecca R.
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- Tony M.

I wasn't expecting your email for another couple of weeks. What a pleasant surprise. I've yet to read the reports but I look forward to it. Thanks also for the developmental editing suggestion. Are we talking like a mentoring role? Either way, I might actually take you up on that as I've been looking for such 'guidance'. [...] Anyway, I'll get on to these reports and will be in touch. Oh, and it's still my intention (in the distant future) to seek a manuscript assessment. But, first things first. Thanks very much. Tony. - Tony M.
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- Denise N.

Thank you for my Evaluation. I was quite excited and nervous to read the feedback. Your feedback was really great. I do understand what you are saying. My biggest thing I did get from the feedback was, I am obviously not getting my message across about the most important topic of all, which is, negative money thoughts, all to do with the mind. It is not about, financial security, independence etc it is about looking at your money thoughts and language. If you have any other suggestions I would love to hear from you, if not, thank you again. - Denise N.
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- Jennifer B.

Thank you so much. This feedback was extremely helpful and I think it will be crucial in assisting me to tell the story I want. I greatly appreciate it! Sincerely,
Jennifer Byrd - Jennifer B.
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- AJ F.

Please pass on my sincere thanks to the reader. Some generous and kind comments along with some solid pick ups. I’ve not yet had the ms proofread in case it needed some serious work, hence the typos. - AJ F.
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- Luke J.

Thanks for your time! I really appreciate the feedback and your willingness to slog through. I’m going to spend some time ruminating on your observations and hit it with an overhaul. Thanks again! - Luke J.
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- Geoff M.

Thank you very much for the comprehensive review, Declan! I very much appreciate it. I am going to see if I can combine the first three chapters into two in order to get things moving more quickly. Thanks again! - Geoff M.
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- Rebecca A.

Thank you very much for your work. It is clear to me you have read the manuscript thoroughly and I appreciate your direct feedback. I already feel excited about the potential for improvement you have outlined that I wasn't able to see on my own. What's more, I've also seen clear evidence that I made the right decision in deciding to get a manuscript assessment from your detailed comments alone. This is exactly what I needed. Thank you again.
Rebecca
- Rebecca A.
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- Morgan V.

I appreciate your quick and efficient work on this. As a writer, my biggest fear is that I'll bore people in the process of the read. Hopefully that wasn't the case here, though it sounds like it did a bit in the middle. I think my plan is to go the self publishing route. Perhaps that will make a difference in my word count. I did shave off about 10,000 words before I gave it to you. I don't know how in the world I'd ever get it down to 90. Then again, if it is in the YA category, perhaps it needs to be. Which brings me to that. Where do you think you would find it on a Barnes and Noble bookshelf? And is there a certain niche readership that I would need to find for it to latch on? - Morgan V.
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- Joanne O.

Thank you so very, very much for your feedback. I don't think I was expecting anything quite so resoundingly positive and I feel tremendously uplifted to know that you enjoyed reading my novel! This is my first attempt at writing and I have been working away at this manuscript for a good two years now, through various rounds of feedback, fine-tuning and the like. I'm not quite sure what to say! I would absolutely love to submit the piece and I confess I really have very little clue as to how to go about contacting agents. I will look into that and let's see where it takes me. Thank you once again - it really did make my day! Regards, Joanne. - Joanne O.
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This type of thing is more common than you think and a major reason why you should hire only trustworthy beta readers rather than posting a request on a forum for free beta readers or using a Beta Reading Service which allows anyone to sign up and beta read an authors manuscript without passing any background checks or signing a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA).

There is nothing stopping someone you’ve made contact with on a forum or social media from uploading your manuscript to The Pirate Bay or another torrent website to give anyone the ability to be able to download your ebook for free. As you know, internet piracy is rampant which is why you need to be smart about whose hands your unpublished manuscript ends up in. The simple truth is that no publisher will consider signing a new author if their work has been illegally uploaded to a file-sharing website without the author’s knowledge.

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