Beta readers are readers you can hire or request to review your unpublished work. They can give you reviews and feedback, and they are not professional critics so they are definitely useful to represent the possible opinions of an average reader. They can be anyone and can be found anywhere.
Even Episode. Back in the EF, it’s not surprising to see threads requesting for beta readers. I have not been a beta reader nor have I requested for them, but I’ve always thought of their purpose. Beta readers, as said above, can represent your potential readers and give you feedback about your work: what you should improve, delete, what’s pleasing and not, etc. This is also especially useful in highly interactive stories like Episode, because beta readers there can not only give you feedback about your writing but about your script as well.
Omg I thought of that alpha, beta, delta thingy in werewolf stories but like yeah I was a beta to an alpha werewolf in someone’s story yes
Yes. It was cool experience reading their stuff and giving them advice to work upon
Um, no. I am paranoid that they might steal my story blueprint before it’s even published
Depends on the author and their work, honestly.
If the author is trying out something uniquely unusual (for e.g. a sci-fi comedy set up in a dystopian universe), they would need to know thier audience reception. Beta reading would be useful in that situation.
Yep, I’ve been a beta reader on the Episode forums and on these forums.
Yes, I have when I was first working on my main story for episode. It was a while back.
I think it’s super important because it helps you tackle problems that would be hard to fix without a beta reader after publishing.
It’s a bit different since you are amongst people who are in the same boat as you when it comes to testing your story. Here it’s a little different since there is only a handful of users who write on Episode. I mainly beta test for @liyahsdiamond which she does the same for me when I post scenes in our chat since mine is published. I’ve beta tested for @WritingWithStars when she was writing her Cinderella inspired story.
