Another day, another author looking for (agented) beta readers. Please, y'all, if there's anything you learn from this industry, learn that career milestones aren't marker for someone's effectiveness as a CP. Many of my best readers have been non-agented or published authors.

Writing and editing are two very different skills. I developed as an editor much faster than I did as a writer, which is why I went down the career path I did.

Some writers never develop into good editors, and that's fine too.

There's something to be said about having friends who've reached certain milestones, in being able to lean on them for career advice. But career advice and beta reading/ CP-ing/ editing aren't the same thing.

It just makes me... sad, I guess, when authors pass over potentially amazing CPs and connections due to some weird industry gatekeeping or false notions of what makes a fellow author's time and feedback worthwhile.