5 Reasons I Like To Beta Read
By: Mariam Naeem
Tags: Books, Beta, Blog, Lists, Reading

My Top 5

Image courtesy of Gabrielle Dickson on Unsplash

Everybody has their reasons for doing something. Whether it’s because it started as a hobby and grew into a passion, to pass the time or make a business of it. Here are my five top reasons for becoming a beta reader.

1: I LOVE READING. This has been a great way for me to read more books and what better way to do it than by beta reading? I never really lack for books seeing as I have shelves full of them and this is a way for me to read more and interact with other people about it all.

2: FREE STORIES. As I mentioned before, I have shelves and also boxes full of books. So why beta read? Well, there’s days you don’t want to re-read the same stuff and you don’t have time to go find and buy new books, so requesting to be a reader is a fantastic way to get more books and read them, all for FREE. You don’t have to read the stuff you don’t want to because there are so many genres to choose from. If you wanted, you could stick with your favorite genre and find authors from that! With beta reading, the possibilities are endless.

3: EXPAND YOUR READING AND GRAMMAR SKILLS. Beta reading is a perfect way of encouraging you to read more and pick up better skills for reading faster. Your vocabulary increases and it’s constantly engaging your brain, so you’re getting something out of reading apart from the pleasure of disappearing into different worlds. It’s also a way of making sure that you don’t lose the skills you’ve been building up through your years in education and growing up. Reading aloud also helps to improve your dialogue and vocabulary, so it can even help to improve your speech!

4: EARN. You can earn by beta reading! I initially started beta reading without charging anyone, because for me it was just something I enjoyed. But realizing that I’m actually providing a service, I’ve created a mini beta reading service and I’m able to charge my clients at reasonable rates. The best thing is it’s something you enjoy doing and you’re getting paid for it. But you have to be able to provide them adequate feedback, whether they want to know if the plot is lacking something, or the characters could use work, or even if the content is too dull or extreme. The potential for earning from this is brilliant!

5: CONNECTIONS. As a writer as well, the one thing I always wanted to do was build strong connections with other writers. I found that through beta reading, I’m helping them and also building up that list of connections. Writers need writers. We are all happy providing feedback and helping each other. The writing community is one that I’ve found that I quite happily fit into and it’s taken me years to find something I have in common with other people. Beta reading for me, helps me to help other writers and also it helps me to explore more with my own writing by seeing different styles and techniques used.

There are obviously many more reasons why beta reading makes for a very interesting and fun way to read books. Everybody has different reasons. When I first started beta reading a couple of years ago, I was so new to the idea of reading someone’s story before it was published and found it fascinating to experience. To this day, I’ve beta read for 132 different authors and I’ve enjoyed the time I’ve taken to do it. I can’t emphasize enough on how beneficial it is, not just to yourself but also to the author. It’s truly a wonderful way of reading and it’s something I’ll continue doing so long as I can.