Craft Chat risks in choice of Beta readers?

[JoanUP]

I hope this year to start looking for beta readers, but one thing is eating me...

If we share an electronic file, how do we know the reader won't upload it to something tied into AI and inadvertently end up releasing the writing?
I had a friend suggest her mother as a beta reader, and mentioned that she would read it using "her Kindle." I know nothing about Kindle, but to me, it sounds like an unnecessary risk.
Can I trust beta readers on Fiverr?
Should I only share printed copies?

Any guidance?

Joan

 

[Jake E]

Litopian beta readers won't upload it to AI. I think as a collective, we're quite anti-ai.
Couldn't comment on Fiverr, but strangers are rarely trustworthy.

 

[Jake E]

Also, reading on kindle is safe. It's just a file type conversion. No ai involved

 

[MattScho]

I think it's entirely legit to worry about someone, and probably someone thinking they're being a good reader/helper, running it or sections of it through AI. Now, if found out, I'm not sure those people have a future on Litopia

 

[RK Wallis]

I'm not sure those people have a future on Litopia

They wouldn't. Pete won't tolerate it, but I've never had a problem on Litopia. TBH, you should expect a level of ghosting from beta readers; our lives get in the way and you can't guess when that'll happen.

Start a thread, asking who has time to beta read then when you have a few takers, turn your thread private. Don't upload your MS until you turn the thread private.

 

[Jake E]

They wouldn't. Pete won't tolerate it, but I've never had a problem on Litopia. TBH, you should expect a level of ghosting from beta readers; our lives get in the way and you can't guess when that'll happen.

Start a thread, asking who has time to beta read then when you have a few takers, turn your thread private. Don't upload your MS until you turn the thread private.

Life has a habit of getting in the way at the worst times. My wife her job while I was beta reading your book and I had to pick up extra hours to pay the rent. Missed your deadline by some margin. Sorry

 

[RK Wallis]

Life has a habit of getting in the way at the worst times. My wife her job while I was beta reading your book and I had to pick up extra hours to pay the rent. Missed your deadline by some margin. Sorry

All good. Like I said, life gets in the way Besides, I've been ghosted lots of times.

I'm onto the next book anyway. The MG market is dead.

 

[Allen N]

>Can I trust beta readers on Fiverr?

It's risky. I paid three beta readers on Fiverr to read my manuscript and two of them clearly used AI, even though they swore they wouldn't. 100% on AI detectors. Probably they didn't even read it. The third, Jas (@jazziej_tfk) did an excellent job, with no sign that she used AI in any way.
-Allen

 

[RK Wallis]

>Can I trust beta readers on Fiverr?

It's risky. I paid three beta readers on Fiverr to read my manuscript and two of them clearly used AI, even though they swore they wouldn't. 100% on AI detectors. Probably they didn't even read it. The third, Jas (@jazziej_tfk) did an excellent job, with no sign that she used AI in any way.
-Allen

That's disturbing. Beta readers should read for free, and how outrageous to charge and use AI. That gives me PTSD!

 

[Pamela Jo]

Lets face it writers cant make a living by writing so anything that charges is going to be that side hustle we all would like to have to pay the rent. DONT PAY FOR BETA READERS. You won't get the fresh eye you need, the whole purpose of beta readers, EVEN if they dont use AI. Don't feed the monster.

 

[JoanUP]

>Can I trust beta readers on Fiverr?

It's risky. I paid three beta readers on Fiverr to read my manuscript and two of them clearly used AI, even though they swore they wouldn't. 100% on AI detectors. Probably they didn't even read it. The third, Jas (@jazziej_tfk) did an excellent job, with no sign that she used AI in any way.
-Allen

gee, glad i asked.

 

[Sarit]

I stopped using beta readers. No one has time. Then I don't have time to return a favor, so makes sense I shouldn't ask. Plus the notes I find are irrelevant, I need notes from someone in the biz not another writer like me....

 

[Sedayne]

I got plenty of offers to beta read Songs for Beginners on Litopia a couple of years ago, but ultimately only two read it (plus I had another reader outside Litopia). I was disappointed at first, especially because I'd just done a full beta read for someone else who said they found my extensive notes helpful but didn't return the favour.

But that's okay; it's a big ask when everyone has so much else going on in their lives. (And SFB is not to everyone's taste in terms of language and explicit scenes.)

But the insight from those who did read it was more valuable than anything I could have got if a dozen others had read it.

My novel isn't published (yet), but it's been longlisted for awards twice so far. There's no way I could have got it to that standard without the beta readers I had.

Litopia is a safe place to seek and find beta readers. Use the Lab where threads cannot be picked up by external search engines, and make a private thread once you've got your readers. If you only have one or two, don't be disappointed because quality is better than quantity for something so important.

 

[Jake E]

Finding beta readers is hard.
Sometimes people are already beta reading something else, or life is happening to them and you've just asked at the wrong time.
Sometimes it's as simple as they don't read or like the genre you write in, so their feedback wouldn't be very useful.

I'm somewhat selective about giving feedback. If its not my genre, then I steer clear as I don't want to give advice that's unhelpful or straight up wrong. I'd hate to lead someone down the wrong path and ruin their hard work because I don't get it.

 

[Sedayne]

. If its not my genre, then I steer clear as I don't want to give advice that's unhelpful or straight up wrong. I'd hate to lead someone down the wrong path and ruin their hard work because I don't get it.

This is a really good point.
I sometimes enjoy reading outside my usual tastes for a few chapters or short stories in the Lab, and maybe a different perspective can be useful. But for a full novel read, I think you're right to seek the readers who are comfortable with your work and understand where you're coming from.