Beta Reader Group discussion

Hi fellow readers and writers,
My 14 yr old daughter is a very mature and avid reader ( Her reading and comprehension level was college level in 6th grade ). She is very interested in becoming a beta reader for MG/ YA / children's books . Of course, she will begin by offering free services first and then see how it goes. Question for y'all is 1) Is there an age limit to start beta reading ? 2) Can you suggest some safe , user friendly website/online forums that I can register her in, if she is eligible ? 3) Do you think adult writers would be interested in getting feedback from a child especially since they are the target audience anyway?
Sorry for the multitude of questions,
Thanks in advance,
Ashwini

reply | edit | delete | flag

I started when I was about 15 in high school on Fiction Press but I mainly did other YA books and/or books with teen characters mostly written by other teens.

I'm looking for teens to read my book that is for kids ages 10-14. It is a feel-good novel, nothing risque or too edgey. If you want to know more, email me: paulajrich@outlook.com

This is not the place to offer your services, Daniel.

Beta reading is kind of on a case by case basis, in that beta readers and authors both decide to work together. It’s like freelancing, I guess. There’s not one beta reading authority or organisation that has rules. If she can find an author that would be willing to work with her, she can beta read. There’s no minimum age requirement.

Her being young might actually be beneficial, because there’s lots of authors out there writing YA or teen books that might benefit from someone literally in that age bracket reading over their work. The downside is that she’s only 14, so she’s not going to have as much life experience, reading experience, or maturity as an older writer would. Some authors as well might feel uncomfortable with working with someone so young. I know I probably would. But there still could be interest.

I would say go for it, but I would recommend doing it for free until she’s 18 - get her a few years experience and then maybe she can monetise it. Who knows, maybe it will even inspire her to go into book editing as a career. You probably have already thought about this, but as her legal guardian, you might want to “manage” her so to speak when it comes to beta reading. Obviously don’t let her contact random people online willy-nilly, keep an eye on her, supervise any contact, etc. just to keep her safe.

As for platforms - this forum is a pretty good spot. If you want her to have her own account, you could also look at beta reading subreddits on Reddit, or beta reading servers on Discord. Reddit is probably the safest option. Hope all this helped answer your questions! ❤️