Becoming a Beta Reader

Welcome to the Need to Read! I’m excited to be starting on this new path in my life and to share it with everyone. I’ve always been an avid reader but never thought I could turn that into income. I have become what is called a ‘Beta Reader’. When I first heard this term I was a bit confused. With my husband working in the video game industry for 15 years, I had heard of beta testers but not beta readers.

First of all, Beta readers review finished manuscripts before they're published, providing the author with feedback from the reader’s point of view. Basically, my job is to make sure the story makes sense, there are no holes in the plot, and if I have any questions in the story. It’s all feedback for an author to make sure their vision is plotted out in the manuscript. I don’t offer opinions on what it should be but I can offer whether I liked it or not and explain to them(in the NICEST way possible) what I did and did not like. It’s ok if I don’t like a book(this is a rare occurrence, if ever, that I don't like a book) but the key to this is to make sure everything makes sense, not to change a story so that it appeals to me.

As for how I got to this point and became a beta reader? With Covid-19 hitting Washington state hard. I had to start finding more ways to keep myself entertained. I've been reading more books in 2020 than I have probably read in any other one period of time.

With all this reading I started wondering, "Could I also write stories?". There we are, all these young people, we are talking from early teens to 20s, that were publishing stories on these apps. Maybe I could do it too. Unfortunately, I was never the best at creative writing in school. Everything I wrote came from teenage angst and absolutely hating high school. Since I didn't have those emotions to pull from anymore, I was kind of lost as to what to write about. I have tons of interests and hobbies. I always want to try something new, especially if it stems from an interest I already have. So maybe writing? Well, every time I tried to sit down and think of a plot, I realized it had come from something I had already read before. No ideas were working.

One day, a friend of mine asked if I would be willing to help his friend Toni with some business paperwork she had. Since I had a background as an administrator, I was more than happy to help her out. During that time, we talked a lot. More or less just ‘get to know you’ things and complete randomness. As this was in June 2020, we both were socially deprived from being cooped up in our homes and we got into obviously our favorite topic of books. We compared authors that we liked and books we had read and I told her that I couldn't wait until she finally got published. I mean how exciting is it when you go into a book store and you buy a book KNOWING the author. To me, that is the coolest thing. So she asked me at one point if I ever wanted to be a BETA READER for her. Now I know NOTHING of writing or publishing a book but have knowledge of the video game industry which uses BETA TESTERS, I asked her if it was similar. She said yes and told me that authors use beta readers to test books or chapters.

Now again in my ignorance, I thought that authors just used family and friends and people they knew, which they do use, but what if your family and friends aren’t big on reading then what do you do? You hire a beta reader. Now just learning this and spending months trying to find a remote position because honestly, I hate not working, I set out to find more information. After our talk and extensive research on my part, I think I have finally found my calling in life. I can get paid to read books, my day never looks the same, I'm not reading boring business documents day in and day out, and every day can be a new adventure.

I now have my services offered on Fiverr.com as well as here on my blog and I have joined several Facebook groups all in the hopes of turning this small venture into a full blown career for me.

Toni Mobley will be featured on The Need to Read as soon as her release date is announced. If you like stories with fantastical creatures in fantastical worlds, then keep an eye on my blog for her book release dates and more information about her stories. For now, I will just have to keep you guys in suspense. Grateful to have a new friend who has also helped me set up my Fiverr profile(link) as well as be my beta reader for my blog.

Toni Mobley will be featured on The Need to Read as soon as her release date is announced. If you like stories with fantastical creatures in fantastical worlds, then keep an eye on my blog for her book release dates and more information about her stories. For now, I will just have to keep you guys in suspense.