Has anyone used fiverr for beta reads?

I have nothing to do with the site so don't harsh up on me.

I used one of their beta readers for my manuscript and got a lot of solid feedback for not a lot of money. I guess I looked at it like her comments would be the same criticisms i'd be reading in the feedback sections on Amazon, so I took all of her observations and made minor tweeks here and there to settle them. One or two comments really helped me go back and sort out my ending, which i truly needed. When I was done, I felt way better about my work. I sent it away for round two just to get another set of eyes on it.

These guys are quick, they're cheap, and they're pretty good at what they do. It was relatively pain free overall.

 

True, however, I don't think the one woman is there anymore. I'll let you know how the second guy does. For those that have no other options to turn to, it's a pretty solid resource to explore. All the beta readers have reviews from users and you can kick the tires first by exchanging DMs with the candidates before you engage with them in a transaction. I selected a guy the second time around that was a bit younger because I wanted someone in my expected demographic. Per other users, he had a reputation for tough love, which was what I was looking for. To each his own, but I thought this might help others entering the editing stage of their first manuscript.

 

I have used Fiverr twice for the same project. One was more detailed than the other but both people i used gave great feedback and i was able to go back to targeted areas of my WIP to revise.

I think i will use the detailed one for my next project because she pointed out specific chapters (page numbers) whereas the other just gave a broad review ("in chapter 3....")

 

I've never liked the idea of paid betas myself because I always wonder how honest the feedback is actually going to be. However, I understand why people might rely on that, since it can be hard to find betas and/or good crit partners.

 

It is hard and you don't know if your non-paid beta is going to tell you straight up what they thought and whether they'd know what to be on the lookout for. The paid ones aren't perfect either, however. Take these examples of feedback..

Me: Dan Jones was a hardworking father of three who enjoyed video games.
Beta Feedback: I tend to hate characters that have children.

Me:Martin walked lazily down the dusty road.
Beta: Nobody walks down a dusty road. It's complete craziness that someone would do that.

Me: He stooped to examine the carcass in the weeds. It was a dead cat.
Beta: This could put off cat lovers like me.

Me: The sun was going down.
Beta: There's nothing I hate more than suns that go down.

After around 6 pages of reading comments like these, you're like ok. She needs her prozac dose increased. How much of it is helpful? You pick and choose what you can use.

 

It seems pretty obvious that as far as that reader is concerned, anyone who isn't mainlining the kool-aid is a nasty racist.

After looking at fiver, someone like that makes me leary of using the service. If I wanted someone to spew ideology at me, I would turn on the mainstream media.

 

I use the story ninjas as my editors. They edited "Operation Pineapple Express" a book I highly recommend.

 

I had a lot of success finding good Beta readers for my first novel on here, Twitter, (specifically a group where you can look for Beta readers) and the Writer's Block group on Discord.

Not saying there's anything wrong with paying for the service, but it's if you're discerning, you can find excellent ones willing to do it because they enjoy it.

 

I wrote this scene where a couple of rural rednecks kidnap my main character and my paid beta got all huffy about me being disrespectful to people from the South. I had several characters from different racial backgrounds and every other comment made it sound like it was a token gesture, I hadn't done enough, every other thing was disrespectful, etc. Again, you take their comments with a grain of salt, but I thought it was funny how she couldn't keep her politics out of it.

 

Not to divert your thread, but last night I read an unsettling crit of my WIP, written by an old friend from high school. Jewish herself, she objected to the "fakeness" of the name I'd given to an Israeli character, saying it couldn't be real because "nobody is called Cohen, it's a job description, not a name." She went into a lot of detail about it. I felt like I'd been shot into an alternate universe. Here I'd named the character after some people of that name whom I actually knew . . . whom I would have thought she knew as well . . . And here she's saying I'm being being ethnically/religiously insensitive, or at least culturally tone-deaf?

It's left me shaken.

 

She also told me I shouldn't have another Jewish character call someone a "goy." "That's worse than shit or fuck." To call someone a Gentile? I thought of telling her being rude is part of that character's personality (In the first novel he publicly and snarkily confronts my hero with the rumor that he'd knocked up my heroine, at a time when she was only his (my hero's) employee and not yet his girlfriend). But then I got worried, oh, no, have I created some kind of stereotypical character? And if I said I'd had Jewish friends and associates like this in real life, would she tell me that was the same crap as "Some of my best friends are . . . [fill in the blank]"?

She did me one favor connected with this: I'd had the Israeli's full name as Firstname ben Cohen. On doing more research, I see it should be Firstname Ben-Cohen. Which is a name that definitely exists.

 

I second that motion.

 

I use Fiverr a lot … for book covers, final edit and trailers, and I’m satisfied with the disciplines mentioned, but the beta readers were too general for me. As if they had only skimmed through it and made outlandish suggestions … like making it a series. While I thought they would be looking for holes in my plot. After several tries with different ones, I went to Critique Circle and found a willing exchange. The caveat being you need to discuss your expectations before you commit to the exchange. I spent a good ten hours on one miserable book marking each paragraph with suggestion sans SPAG. His return to me was a paragraph about how I couldn't use past perfect for someone reflecting on their childhood.

 

I've never used a Beta reader. When you put it out there to complete strangers, how do you feel about someone stealing your ideas or story? There would be a paper trail of course so not hard to prove it is your material, but if someone took the ideas/premise and published it (not hard for a short story) before you could, the only recourse would be a legal one. How does one really protect themselves against IP theft? Just curious to hear different views.

 

If you are that worried about the issue, then copyright the work before letting people read it. But that might cause problems with traditional publishing. Beta readers are there for the feedback to help you polish your work.

You think people don't get ideas from exisiting works? Often their idea is simply I could do a better job with the idea or theme. Honestly I wouldn't worry about it for short stories, a novel maybe. But then if I were that concerned I would spend the money and consult a copyright lawyer.

 

In Hebrew is it pronounced Co-heen? I've always thought it was a Jewish name (well, at least since I saw the movie Pi by Aronovsky).