Love Letter to Beta Readers
I find you, you wonderful being, in the dead of night, in the hidden corners of the internet. A mystical thing you are, lurking, hiding, like a fairy, a unicorn, the most precious thing to be found.
I find you, you wonderful being, and it is so much easier than I feared. You come to me, I only have to ask.
“Would anyone be up to beta-read something for me?”
My fingers tremble as I type. It is a nerve-wrecking thing to do, throwing my petition out there like that, not knowing if my call will be heard, or if it will trail away, its echoes dying a lonely death somewhere in the deep chaos that is the internet.
Yet you find me, and I find you.
My Beta Reader. My unicorn.
You message me, offering your time and hard work, and all you want in return is — nothing. You want nothing in return except a nice conversation, and a bit of respect.
And that you can have. That you shall have! Because you deserve not only respect, but all the appreciation and love I can give you.
I find you, you wonderful being, and I’m overwhelmed by your kindness. You take your time to read and improve my work, to make it better, to help me out. Always constructive, always kind, asking for my limits, my preferences, my expectations. I tell you, and all you say is “Yes, of course, I can do that.”
And then you just do it. And I sit in wonder over how easy all of this has been.
You leave me filled with thankfulness and love, with awe of how amazing you are and how even more amazing this community is. And I want to give something back to you, to everyone who is part of this.
So I sit. And wonder. Could I do this, too?
And when the next person asks, “Looking for a Beta for this. Anybody up for it?” I see it, and once again, excitement captures my heart. Because I could do this, right? I could offer. I could be that which I appreciated so much, that which I was so thankful for.
So I answer their request, and they are lovely and thankful, and I feel a bit out of my depths, because I don’t need these thanks. I’m offering this out of my own free will, I don’t need anything in return.
But the thanks feel good, warm; I feel appreciated, liked, and it makes me smile.
So I tell them, “Of course, thank you, what do you need? Any limits? Anything I should know? Anything you don’t like, or don’t want me to do?”
Because I don’t want to overstep, and I don’t want to make them feel bad. Because of course, being critiqued in your work can make you feel bad. And that is not what this is about.
So we talk about it, and it is fun. I get to know them better, what they like, what they’re looking for, and then I get to read.
I love reading. And I feel special as I am allowed to read what no-one else has read before. Something they have yet to publish, something only I may see. I know of the value of it, I know how precious it is, and I treat it with the appropriate care.
Because they made this, with their own two hands, and they put a piece of themselves into it, and then they trusted me to help them make it better.
And when I finish, I am once again happy and filled with love; because now they can feel better about their work, and they might even post it.
I see they have posted it, and they put an Author’s note. “Thank you to xy for Beta Reading. All remaining mistakes are, of course, my own.”
They didn’t have to do this. But it feels nice to be appreciated.
The next time, when I ask for a Beta, my hands tremble a bit less, because I know somewhere out there, there are countless of those amazing beings, those unicorns, that will come to me when I call. And I know how it feels to be on the other side of this bargain. To be the one entrusted with a story, and I know I want to do this again, too.
Because that is what all this is about, right? Not only about what we create, but also about the fans we make along the way and the community full of unicorns and mystical beings who were strangers once, and may very well become friends.
romaincrisis
origamiaround
kaledo-art
snowghoul
theartofmadeline
discoholicmusic
2087
titsay
germansingergirl
