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Fanna
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Mar 08, 2023 11:18PM
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Please beware of this Beta reader. She agreed to beta read a book on Aug 9th 2022 with a delivery date of August 31. We paid 50% upfront and was very excited to get her feedback. 3 weeks after the deadline I requested an update which she gave me that something had come up in her life, but for the next few months each time I asked about the read I received another issue with promises of delivering a partial with the remainder shortly after. This went on for months. She did ask in November if I would prefer she return my money but her Paypal account was not working and it would be a month before I could receive funds. This went on until February (6 months after the contract) that I told her can only conclude I had been scammed. I never heard from her again and never saw my down payment returned. Beware, she was always extremely apologetic throughout the ordeal and I wanted to believe all the reasons she gave me as to why she had not completed the assignment. This was my first time using a Beta reader and unfortunately a terrible experiance.
Maureen wrote: "Please beware of this Beta reader. She agreed to beta read a book on Aug 9th 2022 with a delivery date of August 31. We paid 50% upfront and was very excited to get her feedback. 3 weeks after the ..."Oh my god, I am at a loss for words. I have had the exact same experience. EXACT SAME PROBLEMS. Did not have Paypal. Something happening in personal life. but i believed it because she has a big following on twitter... Paid 3 march, turnaround time 10 march. Something urgent came up and she couldn't make the deadline. a lot of promises about partials but never living up to the promises. She ended up pay palling me the money through another account after i opened a dispute on paypal (and closed it. which i regret doing after seeing this) it was 10-15 bucks short too
Wow I am sorry to hear you had the same experience. I never received any of the $53 I paid for her service. She still appears to be requesting new opportunities. Hopefully no one else is taken by her.
Scrolled back and found some other people mentioning the same story… Oh i feel foolish
You shouldn't feel foolish, there are many who appear to give her rave reviews. Unfortunately being my first experience with a beta reader it has put my enthusiasm on the back burner for now with this project.
Maureen wrote: "Please beware of this Beta reader. She agreed to beta read a book on Aug 9th, 2022 with a delivery date of August 31. We paid 50% upfront and were very excited to get her feedback. 3 weeks after the ..."I'm so sorry for both of your experiences. It is extremely hurtful to see people doing injustice to their professions, and especially to other people. Maybe because of scammers like these, it is preferred to involve a third party like Fiverr or Upwork in verified purchases since it helps both sellers and buyers to keep up with commitment.
Maybe you taking this step will help others to protect themselves from this mistake.
Though I wish both of you a bit of very good luck with your respective books because I know how much matters like these affect you as an author and setback your zeal.
Best,
Thanks for your comment. I have since reached out to an excellent beta reader through Fiverr. Hoping to be able to get this project back on track.
Wow. So sorry to hear that people are being scammed even in beta reading but I guess scammers exist in every single place they can find a grip. I think the best thing to look for is legitimate reviews that can be verified. People can easily buy followers on various social media but I don't think it would be so easy to get testimonials from actual authors on places like Goodreads. There are several beta readers on this group who have legitimate authors commenting on their threads with their reviews. I think that's the best way to find someone legitimate. I 'think' people can even buy fiverr reviews...not sure about that though.
I'm really sorry to hear about your experiences, but as a fellow author, I'm glad you posted. I've published two novels. You can click on my profile to see my books - they are for sale on Amazon, etc. Ayesha read my second novel The Stars That Govern Us, and I was very happy with her work. Gaby (Gcdeditorial) also read Stars, and I was equally happy with the work she did for me. I wouldn't hesitate to use either Ayesha or Gaby again.
(There were a few other readers I worked with and would also recommend, but I'm not sure they are still active here.)
Thank you J.R. when we get the book back on track and at a point for another beta read I will contact them.
I am Queendaline, your favorite beta reader. I have over 5 years of beta reading experience on about 50 manuscripts and still counting. I would like to work with you on your project. I enjoy beta reading, fantasy, magic, science fiction, and adventure. And I've been beta-reading since 2020.I am running a special offer program on beta reading and in line edits from 10 usd, with an option of beta reading one book and getting a free beta read on your next book. this is aimed at encouraging writers who desire to beta read their story / novel/ novella at an affordable rate.
As an expert in this field, my goal here to give you honest feedback on your pages, short story, novella, or novel, and character. All this aims at making sure your story is set for publication.
I will double beta read your story and focus my critique on the theme, conflict, character development, and plot and provide feedback targeted at ensuring character flow, pacing and dialogue sets in nicely. This aims at making sure your book becomes exactly what you want it to be, amongst which is to capture the attention of the reader and also to ensure its enjoyable, and a page turner. I will also make line comment where necessary and also provide a report for your use.
Honestly, if you are looking to have an eye-catching story, I suggest you reach out to me on fiverr and grab this offer immediately https://www.fiverr.com/share/DGeB4V
I look forward to working with you.
Warm Regards
Maureen wrote: "Thank you J.R. when we get the book back on track and at a point for another beta read I will contact them."You're welcome, Maureen. I'm really sorry you had that experience - I've hired 8 or 9 readers over the last five years from here, and all of them were prompt and professional. Hopefully, you can file a dispute with however you paid and get your money back.
If you're soured on using paid beta readers, swapping with another author a couple of chapters at a time can be a good way to get feedback on your book. I find critiquing, while a lot of work, also has helped me become a better writer. (Plus, it is nice to have some author friends to commiserate with.)
I wish you the best of luck with your book.
HiI had the same experience with FANNA too! She was the second beta reader I hired, and I paid 80 $ upfront since the form / reviews / website all appeared so legit. same scenario where she started giving some health excuses and kept promising updates which obviously never came. I really thought she was in some kind of trouble, but sad and shocked to know she is a scammer. The first beta reader ASHLEY PELTIER was wonderful and delivered her comments within the promised time. I also would like to thank BROOKS KOHLER - who beta read my book for free and offered valuable advice.
Can we request Goodreads admin to block this person and flag her somehow as a 'scammer' so people like me, Maureen and Betul don't keep getting fooled?
Ashwini wrote: "HiI had the same experience with FANNA too! She was the second beta reader I hired, and I paid 80 $ upfront since the form / reviews / website all appeared so legit. same scenario where she start..."
If Maureen and you send me proof I could compile a call-out post to post on twitter that will prevent future buyers from purchasing fanna's services. I have a book twitter account with over 100k followers but didn't post a callout because I got a refund, albeit a few dollars short.
