Should beta readers be paid?

A surprising number of online beta readers say that beta readers should not be paid.

A random sampling and questioning in various online beta reader forums reveal that many online beta readers say that betas should provide their opinions and editing skills to authors for free or for “love.”

A typical response was from James Eggebeen in the Facebook Beta Reader Writers Club, who wrote, “You should be able to find beta readers who do it for the sheer joy of it. If someone here asks for payment, run the other way….”

The BetaReader Journal has always argued that even a small amount of compensation was warranted ($20 for a full manuscript) for the work of reading and correcting a manuscript. The tipping point on compensation seems to be when the job goes from reading and giving impressions to editing. No one is arguing that the professionals on the bulletin board should not receive their established rate for reading, editing, book design, etc. Where do you think the line is? When do think a beta should or should not be paid? Is bartering (you read mine/I’ll read yours) a fair trade?

What do you think?

Advance Reading Copy

DeepSix Publishers is looking for book reviewers and bloggers to review the advance reading edition of the new book by Jeffrey Marcus Oshins, Hippies in the Andes/Freedom Pure Freedom to be released in July 2014.  Contact editor@deepsixpub.com.

Sex, drugs, and rock and roll in the Andes—this account of a road trip by three young American men captures the spirit of the 70’s and describes a world on the verge of change. Traveling from California these innocents abroad drug, whore, smuggle, and rock their way to Buenos Aires and back on a six-month, 12,400 mile overland odyssey that recalls The Motorcycle Diaries and On the Road. Told in both travelogue and fiction, this two-books-in-one describes the great cultural gulf between the United States and Latin America at a time when native population are excluded from modern society and ruthless generals kill the youth who oppose them. Seemingly oblivious to the dangers that constantly stalk them, three hippies manage to find a time of pure freedom in South America.

See the cover reveal of Hippies in the Andes/Freedom Pure Freedom on May 1, 2014 on Goodreads.