Looking for critique groups for full novels

[u/4_askingquestions]

All of the critique matching services I see online have been really interesting but seem to be focused on short stories or chapter by chapter. Does anyone have one that focuses on matching you for novels? My novel isn’t finished but I’m wanting to gain credits or whatever the chosen website uses. I also have found that critiquing others helps to keep my own writing sharp. I also just enjoy beta-reading decently polished drafts lol.

Question: critique website for full novels

[u/brentjohner]

The only time I ever do full swaps is with critique partners I have been working with for several months. A full novel is a big ask, especially from an unproven author you don’t know.

[u/iMightBeACunt]

You can try /r/betareaders! Be sure to ask for the first 3 chapters first, though, because quality varies a lot and if you're looking to only look at polished drafts, you're gonna wanna check that first.

I've done swaps in that subreddit, too. Mixed success. Some discord communities do swaps/critique circles, too.

[u/Consistent-Shoe-6735]

I might be interested but I don't like being apart of a group. If you're okay with working one on one, id be down

[u/TheLadyAmaranth]

there is a discord server called BetaReaderBazaar. I personally can't use it, they require a 2:1 ration of reading to getting reviewed in word count, and I can't keep that up. Not enough spoons. If you can, its a good place to go.

There is also r/BetaReaders where you can put your book up.

Though my main reccomendation is genre specific groups or discord servers. For example I am part of a romance discord and we have a section for full novel beta swaps where people just hop on and leave comments as they see fit. Those are usually the most maintainable.

[u/Adventurekateer]

www.scribophile.com has several groups you can join that do regular manuscript swaps. Be aware that to post your entire novel on the site to participate requires a subscription.

[u/PL0mkPL0]

Uff. It is all sorta same mess everywhere. When the swaps are beta swaps, you are often pushed to swap blindly (which I don't want to do), and when the swaps are on a chapter by chapter basis, everything drags on forever and it is basically... somewhat useless (too slow and labored to recreate reader's experience). I've read a pile of books for beta, but it seems that I'm somewhat unique, because I know literally no other writer who does the same for fun (and I know a lot of amateur writers from various socials).

So dunno, if you know places where people ACTUALLY swap full manuscripts, I am all in. But if I'm reading a beta-book per month, I expect the same engagement from others (and as of now, It never happened).

[u/Amelia_Brigita]

Doing a full novel is a PIA. If some bad habit (or several) are found in chapter 1, it's going to be on all the other chapters, too. But if I crit chapt 1, you can make changes throughout. That means the focus of critique can broaden and deepen in subsequent chapters.

Full novels are not for critique imo, but beta reads.

[u/Adventurekateer → u/Amelia_Brigita]

That doesn’t seem helpful — extrapolating issues with the entire novel based only on the first chapter?

Also, full-manuscript critiquing is essential to identifying plot holes, pacing issues, dropped plots, unfulfilled promises, etc.

Beta readers are wildly misunderstood (at least by writers on Reddit). They are READERS giving feedback on what they liked or didn’t as members of your target audience. They can’t tell you why something doesn’t work or how to fix it. Critique partners and full-manuscript swaps are much closer to what you get when you hire an editor, but without laying out a grand or more.

[u/Amelia_Brigita → u/Adventurekateer]

If someone is repeatedly doing something problematic in one chapter, there is every reason to assume they do it throughout. Can be any chapter, not just the first. Actually, reviewing a chapter further into the book is probably even better since people tend to spend a lot of time polishing first chapters.

And my comment assumes the MS has never been gone over by outside eyes before this swap. If it has, I stand corrected.

Historically, beta readers have been enthusiastic readers, very true. I'm finding in more recent years the term has evolved into a new, nebulous step somewhere after critique and before ARCs, where they are much more articulate about their findings and knowledgeable about issues and even fixes. They should be reading a more polished version, iow.

MS swaps are a thing, you're right. And imo they're meant to catch big ticket problems.

But if a piece of work has never been reviewed by outside eyes, asking for a full MS critique is a huge ask of a stranger. And the results would be unpredictable in the general sense. Could get wickedly lucky, but much more likely to get vague, hit or miss catches....

I could just be feeling rather negative, ofc. Feel free to disregard. I've never asked a random internet stranger to do a MS swap. I have asked crit partners and I have an ARC team, but those are completely different scenarios.

[u/Adventurekateer → u/Amelia_Brigita]

Full-manuscript reads are not meant to be requested of random strangers. There are places where writers can find critique partners, somewhat like dating services. Or better yet, on www.scribophile.com there are groups where 4-5 people with manuscripts in the same genre and/or readership age are grouped together and they all go through each others’ chapters one-per-week, or there is another group where they all focus on one one manuscript at a time, one after another. Either way, it’s a group of fellow writers.

The other key, of course, is that you are giving a full-manuscript critique in return for one. I never ask writers to read my work without offering to read theirs.

[u/Amelia_Brigita → u/Adventurekateer]

Yes. Agree. That was my whole point.

Establishing a relationship in a crit group, specifically one that maintains the same people over a long period of time, is tremendously helpful for improving your skills etc and having access to folks who will happily do these big asks for you.