Basically, I know that regardless of whether a fic is beta-read or not, there's still a chance that it's going to have grammar and punctuation mistakes, or characterizations I disagree with.
I do know some authors on my flist whom I trust to be of a high quality, and so I really don't look at who beta'd for them or not on a given story, and with new authors I feel a story is almost as likely to need fixing up even if it has a beta listed because betas can be newbies too!
Yes - beta readers or not don't guarantee quality, although if someone I know as a good writer/beta read a fic, I might be a tad more inclined to read it just for the name recognition value.
I have the hardest time figuring out who's a new author, though - just because I've never heard somebody's name doesn't mean they might not have been around for a long time :). The only reliable way to decide on whether or not to read I think is to look at the first two or three paragraps of a fic...
I have the hardest time figuring out who's a new author, though - just because I've never heard somebody's name doesn't mean they might not have been around for a long time :). The only reliable way to decide on whether or not to read I think is to look at the first two or three paragraps of a fic...
So true! I guess I mean authors who are new to me, not new to the fandom. ;)
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branchandroot
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Date: 2006-10-14 05:45 am (UTC)I do know some authors on my flist whom I trust to be of a high quality, and so I really don't look at who beta'd for them or not on a given story, and with new authors I feel a story is almost as likely to need fixing up even if it has a beta listed because betas can be newbies too!
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Date: 2006-10-14 08:05 pm (UTC)I have the hardest time figuring out who's a new author, though - just because I've never heard somebody's name doesn't mean they might not have been around for a long time :). The only reliable way to decide on whether or not to read I think is to look at the first two or three paragraps of a fic...
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Date: 2006-10-14 09:04 pm (UTC)So true! I guess I mean authors who are new to me, not new to the fandom. ;)