So you want to  hire a beta.

Now, the other side of the coin.  What should a writer who is looking for a beta do to ensure that she gets the help she needs?

#1. Be honest with yourself about how much help you need.  If you have a Masters in English and have already reread your fic several times, then obviously all you need is someone to watch for those pesky typos that plague us all.  But, if you have just been rejected because your chapter had too many mechanical mistakes in it to be acceptable, then you clearly need someone with good language skills who will be willing to work with you very closely until you have had a chance to remember all those things that you learned in school and thought that you would never need again. :)

#2. Do not be afraid to ask more than one person to beta for you.  If you have a friend who has been reading things over for you, but you are not sure if she is just being a cheerleader or is really catching everything, then run your chapter by someone else who is not as close to you.  Encouragement is important, so don't discard your friend; just add someone less involved who will look at the fic with a more objective eye.

#3. Avail yourself of all the resources out there to help you present the best story that you can.  There are places to find show transcripts if you have questions about what happened in a particular episode or if you need to know the exact wording of a bit of dialogue; there are many resources for technical stuff where you can refresh your memory of where and how to use commas or which version of a word is correct for what you are trying to say; and there are sites that offer general tips for writing in the Buffyverse. (This is where you find out about things like the Mary Sue syndrome.)

#4. At a bare minimum, before you send anything to a beta you should have run both grammar and spell check on it.  This is just common courtesy, as well as common sense.  You do not need to be asking a volunteer helper to spend time on things that you should and could have checked for yourself.  (I feel very strongly about this BTW. Although I know that some betas are very forgiving of writers who don't do this, that is still no reason to take advantage of their good nature.)

#5. When looking over a beta list and trying to pick someone, there are a few things that you should look for:
    A properly spelled, punctuated and grammatically correct blurb telling you about the beta and her qualifications.  Now, granted, if you need a lot of help with this stuff yourself, you may or may not be able to spot problems, but it is important to try.  (Not everyone who wants to be a beta has any business doing so.)  And read those qualifications. "I want to be a beta because I love Spuffy and want to help authors" is not a qualification; "I have a degree in English and three years experience as an editor of a scientific journal" is.

    Look for someone whose work you admire (and whose work you know is good, whether you admire it or not. lol).  This is especially important if you are looking for help with your writing style as well as your mechanics.  If you need help with plot ideas, look for someone who has great plots. If you tend to see the big picture but miss the little things, then look for someone who says that she is detail-oriented.  If your characters or dialogue are weak, look for someone who does well in those areas. Try to find a beta, or betas, with the skill sets that you feel you need to help you produce the level of writing that is your goal.

#6. Do not waste a good beta's time if you have no intention of doing any of the things suggested.  And, for god's sake, do NOT thank someone for betaing for you if you didn't make the changes she told you to.  No one wants to see her name up as having beem the beta for a chapter or a fic that is still full of mistakes.  You and the beta will have to work out between you what is and is not an acceptable level of change.  Most betas will be okay with your just making the mechanical changes; but if she has offered plot, dialogue or characterization advice, the courteous thing to do is for you to respond and let her know that, while you appreciate her making suggestions about the story or the writing style, you intend to stick with what you have. That allows you both to have an honest discussion about the expectations and to part ways amicably if you are not on the same page.

#7. You are not obligated to take every suggestions offered, by any means. But again, common sense should tell you that you need to give them some serious consideration.  Particularly if there is a blanket comment that your characters are not ringing true, or that your dialogue is stilted, something that indicates a pervasion problem with your story. You should take a hard look at it and be brutally honest with yourself as to whether the beta might be correct. There is no shame in having to re-write parts of the chapter to make it better. We all do it, all the time.

#8. Once you have found yourself a beta, please remember to thank her in your AN.  

I had more to say, but it was wandering off into a lecture about not whining if you don't do what your beta says and then your fic gets rejected.  More appropriate for a separate post when I'm in a bad mood. LOL