The first stories that I had a beta reader for were in the Harry Potter fandom, which has/had a fantastic resource called Perfect Imagination, which was a beta service. You said how long your story was, the rating, the pairings, a summary etc. plus what you were looking for in a beta and you got a list of betas in the order of how busy they were with other fics. Then you contacted a few until one took you on. I didn't know anyone who beta read for me and I rarely had the same beta twice. Some were more helpful than others, but they were all very nice. It was rather a long process though and I can be impatient once I feel done with a fic, so I moved to only using a beta when I was writing a gift or for an exchange.

In other fandoms I've asked on my own LJ for a beta, but I always feel a bit awkward about it, because do you accept on a first come, first served basis or who you think will suit you best or take them all or what? And that's if anyone is even interested in beta reading. When I wrote a fic for the epic Small Acts verse I figured since it was workerbee73 and bob5fic's baby that I'd ask them to beta *grins* but I have awkwardness just outright asking people otherwise.

Which is odd, because as I beta I don't mind if people PM me or outright ask me if I'll beta read for them. I'm flattered that they've asked :) My standard disclaimers for being a beta reader is that I'm thorough, as in I comment on all kinds of things worse than when I comment on posted fics, and that because of that if it's anything over 500 words I also make no promises as to how speedy I'll be. If they want a basic going over I can be faster.

I like to get a dialogue going with writers as well, to debate changes and look over their fic more than once. When I've had a beta reader myself most of them have been suprised if I've asked them to do a second read through.