Beta-Reader Directory

[Pen]

Cherished, beloved, esteemed . . . beta-readers! We owe them so much. But sometimes it can be hard to know where to start to find a beta-reader. This thread is here to help.

If you beta-read or are interested in doing so, reply to the thread with a filled-out version of the template below.

If you’re looking for a beta-reader, take a look and see if anyone’s interests align with your story. If they do, it’s worth reaching out!

(Keep in mind that people have busy lives, so a person may not be free to beta-read your story at the precise time you need it. Don't worry! You'll find someone else.)


Beta-Reader Template

Name:

Interests:

(ie. PMD, trainer fic, hive-minds, whump, fluff, time loops, etc)

Restrictions:

(ie. no gore, no shipping, etc)

Feedback Style:

(ie. line-edits, big picture commentary, copy-editing, grammar, etc)

Preferred Length:

Availability/Turn-Around:

Best Way to Contact:

(Optional) Samples of Previous Work:

(link to any published chapters you've beta-read, if you want!)

 

[Namohysip]

Name:
Namo

Interests:
PMD
Pokecentric
Pokemon-focused trainerfic
OC-centric / original settings

Restrictions:
Preference against 'darker interpretations of canon' in general (AUs are fine.)
Not interested in canon-character-focused stories.
Not enough knowledge for anime-centric
Not a fan of GrimDark atmospheres. (GrimBright or NobleDark is fine)
If part of an ongoing or serialized work, I need to catch up first.

Feedback style:
Line-edits if I happen to see typos, awkward phrasing, or poor word choice.
Very focused on plot beats, setting sensibility, scene pacing, big-picture, theme cohesiveness, outlining, broad-strokes A-to-B-to-Z pathfinding.
I am not a good copy-editor. Grammarly is probably much better.

Preferred length:
No preferred length for overall story.
Preferred chapter length < 10k
Greatest preference <7k.

Availability:
Yes

Turnaround:
Depends on chapter length, but typically within a week. I put beta reading at a high priority in my personal schedule.

Best way to contact:
Discord or PMs here, with a lean toward Discord.

Samples of previous work:
Chapter 97 onward of Ambyssin's Guiding Light.
Ambyssin's Path of Valor
Chapter rewrites for the first few chapters, as well as most of the second half of, pbugle's Pathways of Aspiration
Chapter 20 onward of Shadow of Antoich's Rebirth
Adam's Kuki's Tale
Parts of Nebula's early chapter rewrites for The Curious and the Shiny
Canisaries' In Search of Haven
Tanuki's Better Left Unown
Chapter 4 onward of ExplosiveTurkey's Canon Breakage

 

[WildBoots]

⭐ Availability/Turn-Around: Currently unavailable! (As of May 2021) ⭐

Name: OSJ, Boots

Interests: trainer fic (especially OCs), xenofic, social issues, realism and camping, pokemon rights, social media and performing a role, ghosts, death & grief, brooding boys and scrappy girls. Other stuff too, but those get me pretty easily.

Restrictions:
- I’m not big on PMD
- I haven’t watched the anime in 3000 years
- Nothing sexually explicit (fade to black/implied is probably fine)

Feedback Style: I’ll probably pick out line-edits as I go, but I expect you to have edited your own work to the best of your ability before it comes to me. I don’t want proofreading to be my primary job. I can give you a temperature read, point out areas that are confusing/unclear, and offer suggestions on big picture issues.

You can find plenty of my reviews around to get an idea of what my feedback looks like. (Check EoE, Broken Things, Those Who Inherit the Earth, Dragon’s Dance, Drowning, & Find a Way Home for some of my more recent reviews.)

It especially helps if you include specific questions with your text, things you’re worried about etc.

Preferred Length: 5k or less (per chapter or per one-shot). Some wiggle room here.

Best Way to Contact: DM me here or on discord.

(Optional) Samples of Previous Work: Most recently, I’ve poked around in Envy of Eden a couple of times + Golden Calf.

 

[kintsugi]

(currently not open for beta work, sorry! if you're really convinced that I'm a good fit, feel free to reach out, but my availability isn't great at the moment.)

Spoiler

Name: kintsugi
Interests: humans doing human things, humans doing inhuman things, inhumans doing inhuman things, weird/clever worldbuilding
Restrictions: nothing sexually explicit; I've been told I have hot takes on PMD
Feedback Style: toss me a google doc and we can have a fun night out on the town. will be as harsh as you want me to be
Preferred Length: 0-7k
Availability/Turn-Around: likely unavailable.
Best Way to Contact: n/a

(Optional) Samples of Previous Work:
recent - The Johto Wars, Continental Divides

 

[Pen]

Name: Pen

Interests: Mythology/religion, politics, character studies, unreliable narrators, wonky chronology, pseudo-academic writing, Lance, Cynthia, N. I'm good with both OCs and canon characters.

Restrictions: I haven't played Sword/Shield or any PMD game except Explorers of Sky. Not interested in humor fics, fluff, or anything taking a self-consciously video-game-y route. In general I prefer oneshots to chapter fics.

Feedback Style: Expect lots of scribbling on a google doc. I generally do a mix of line-edits for tone/flow/grammar and substantive crit on character development/world-building/internal consistency/themes.

Preferred length: <5k, but flexible.

Availability/Turn-around: Probably would take me a week to get it back to you.

Best Way to Contact: DM on TR or on the TR Discord.

Samples: I've beta'd chapters from Spring, Continental Divides, and the envy of eden.

 

[Flyg0n]

I'm no expert but I feel comfortable enough offering help anyway.

Name: Tetra/Flyg0n

Interests: trainer fic, journey fic, some PMD, pokecentric is acceptable. I have a soft spot for trainer journey fics (especially with trainers that don't have it all). And a sprinkle of anime logic. I have watched most of the anime more times than I care to admit. Love fluff and human/pokemon friendship. Love a good crack/humor. Love stuff that takes a unique direction. All here for very uncommon pokemon. Or 'weak' ones.

I tend towards happy, lighter hearted adventure stories.

Restrictions:
Technically I'll read just about anything. No sexually explicit things though. Keep it TR friendly.

I don't mind gore but I also hate in the context of pokemon when regular friendly sport battles battles cause violence/gore and I will probably complain about it a lot if I have to beta it.... I have nothing specifically against broad violent themes though.
I'm not big on political things or pokemon as slaves/dumb animals. I won't beta grimdark. It's better for both of us that way.

Feedback Style:

• I expect you to polish your story as best as you can before having me beta though. A lot of obvious spelling/grammar stuff can be fixed with a basic spellcheck.
• Overall I'm better at giving broad strokes overviews on things like character/plot/pacing/theme. I can give minor thoughts on prose, buts its not my strength.
• I can tell you whatever grammar/phrasing feels off. My native language is English and while I'm not a grammar expert I can definitely pick out when something feels off, if you need a native English beta.
• I can also keep an eye out for anything specific if you have concerns about aspects like character, worldbuilding, or plot. Down to soundboard if you're trying to puzzle out an aspect of your story.

Preferred Length:
Max 7k per chapter, approximately. Willing to be flexible.
I don't mind reading a full story but expect it to take a lot of extra time if I have to catch up on a whole fic.

Availability/Turn-Around:
Probably one week for a chapter, two max (Maybe more during Blitz.). Depends on the depth of feedback.

Best Way to Contact:
Probably DM on discord.

 

[Sinderella]

Name: Sinderella/Sind/Sin

Interests: OC-Centric, OC x Canon, fakemon, neat lore and world-building, angst/comfort, fluff, pokecentric, realism, journeys, crack/humor...I'll consider reading most things, if I'm honest!

Restrictions: None. I will literally intake anything that's legal. However, please keep in mind I know very little about PMD, and I've only watched the Sun/Moon anime thoroughly.

Feedback Style: I do a lot of line-by-line comments, and tend to lean toward copy editing too. I usually look out for characterization, world building aspects, and plot continuity, and I'm super eagle eyed when it comes to pointing out plot holes.

Feel free to bounce any ideas you might have off of me too, I'd be more than happy to help you brainstorm!

Preferred Length: Around 7k, but will consider longer!

Availability/Turn-Around: Between 1 and 2 weeks, depending on my own work flow.

Best Way to Contact: Discord DM!

Sample(s): I beta'd the one-shot The Dreamer is Still Asleep!

 

[HelloYellow17]

Name: HelloYellow/Yellow

Interests: Mostly trainer fic, but I’m not against PMD! OC-centric, fluff, hurt/comfort, morally grey characters, found family, friendship, romance, trainers bonding with their Pokémon

Restrictions: Can tolerate minimal gore/horror, but nothing much beyond that.

Feedback Style: I’m very flexible! I’m happy to provide feedback on grammar and spelling, though please make sure you’ve at least proofread your doc to the best of your ability first. I enjoy providing all kinds of feedback so I don’t have a particular preference.

Preferred Length: anything below 10k per chapter.

Availability/Turn-Around: 1 week

Best Way to Contact: Discord DMs! If you’re not on Discord, PM me on this site.

 

[IFBench]

Name: Bench

Interests: PMD! I have a lot of knowledge about it, and pretty much anything PMD related I will beta, with few exceptions. Pokecentric is usually fine too. I'm not quite as big on trainerfic as PMD, but I'm fine with it in most cases, usually given that the Pokemon have at least semi-major roles.

Aside from that, I like when game mechanics are utilized in interesting ways, or when items in general are utilized. I'm also a pretty big fan of hurt/comfort stuff and things with strong themes of friendship, as well as character-focused works. Also anything with a Chikorita or Oshawott as a main character.

Restrictions:

No heavily romance oriented stories.
No extremely grimdark stories.
Nothing NSFW.
Stories where everyone dies aren't really my thing.
My mainline games and anime knowledge is sporadic.

Feedback Style:

I usually do big picture feedback with some line-by-line commentary and some grammar critiques, but if you want something else I can try and do that!

Preferred Length: Anything 8K per chapter and below, though this is a soft limit.

Availability/Turn-Around: Sporadic. Sometimes I'll be extremely free and can respond within an hour or two, sometimes I'll be really busy and will take a week or two.

Best Way to Contact: DMs on Discord, preferably.

 

[SparklingEspeon]

Name: SparklingEspeon/"Espy"

Interests: I'm pretty flexible on most counts! My preferences tend to lean towards serious, larger works. I specialize in PMD, Alternate Universe/"Other side of the story" takes, and pretty much anything with an action/adventure tone. Love thriller/horror.

Restrictions:
- You don't want me if your work is akin to a sitcom/saturday morning cartoon in structure/tone.
- I'm not savvy enough with the anime unless you're doing an XY fic.
- You'll have to sell me on journeyfics/romance-centric stuff. I don't doubt yours is good! It's just usually not my thing.
- I need to be either caught up or reasonably able to catch up.
- I am not your copy editor. I will fail miserably and no-one will want to be happy including me if the primary thing you want me around for is fixing typos/wording.
- I reserve the right to turn down any and all offers if not interested/available at the time.

Feedback style: I take into consideration the chapter on its own merits and point out what did and didn't work -- this extends to pacing, character interactions, logistical quibbles, and so forth. I also try to think on each chapter's significance in the larger scheme of things, if applicable. Honesty is my strongest policy -- If I think something doesn't work or should be changed, I will tell you. I will not sugarcoat feedback. I will not be needlessly harsh or biased. I may request inside information on the story's broad framework/direction to get a better idea of the best direction to take it in.

Preferred Length: If you aren't writing like 50K long chapters then hit me

Availability/turnaround: Unfortunately closed at this time!

Best way to contact: Discord is most convenient for me! I may tentatively work with forum PMs, but it's not my preferred method of communication.

References of past work:
The Godslayer, by Namohysip
Chapters 3, 4, and 5 of Eternal Shadows by Bench
Chapter 112 onwards of Hands of Creation by Namohysip

 

[kibigo]

Name: Kibi… that’s what people call me…

Interests: Trainer fics! Romance! Artsy stuff! Difficult‐to‐resolve disagreements! Sentimental garbage! Gender and sexuality! Folklore and religion! Stories with a strong sense of place! Recovery fics!

Send me your gay content and I will tell you how to make it more gay.

I am also very well‐versed in Zelda (very well‐versed), Metroid, Super Smash Bros., and Fire Emblem: Three Houses if you are a multifandom drifter.

Restrictions: If your fic requires in‐depth knowledge of canon characters and events, I’m likely to be rusty on anything which isn’t in the latest generation of games. There are probably better people at critiquing PMD‐style fics.

I care a lot about story structure, pacing, and phrasing, and comparatively little about characters or plot. I won’t help your story make sense, but I will try to make sure it is written well.

I’d rather only read oneshots; I have difficulty keeping all of the details of chaptered works together in my mind.

Explicit content: If you are an adult, I’ll read anything consensual (I know how hard it is to find betas for this), but maybe ask yourself if you really want me tearing into your wish‐fulfilment fantasy first. Regardless, try to keep it light on the violence/gore.

Feedback Style: Generally, my comments take the form of “I see this problem with how you wrote this, and here is how I would solve the problem”. Because of my focus on phrasing and structure, these will often take the form of annotations at specific points in the fic. The first bit is the important part; you don’t have to agree with me on the solutions!

I also try to call out the things you do well, and what I see as the important points regarding the piece as a whole. If I think the whole piece could be helped by taking it in a different direction… I will say that.

Preferred Length: 2500–7500 words.

Availability/Turn-Around: Ask. If I’m available, turn‐around will probably be pretty fast (a day or two at most?).

Best Way to Contact: Discord, probably.

 

[ArielDiancie]

Name: ArielDiancie

Interests: PMD, Fantasy, Comedy

Restrictions: Will tolerate Mild Gore, Prefer reading PMD

Feedback Style: I like to keep things short and sweet, not very good at editing work, however I make up in keeping things descriptive.

Preferred Length: If I am into the narrative, I can do it all day

Availability: Eastern Standard Time 7:00am-12:00pm (Weekends)
3:00-10:00 (Weekdays)

Best Way to Contact: Through Discord