What Are Beta Readers?
No, beta readers aren’t the passive, wimpy bookworms of the reader world. In fact, they’re one of the strongest, most useful types of readers out there.
For writers, beta readers should be invaluable givers of feedback somewhere between the second draft and professional edit stages of writing. Ever think to yourself, “I’m dying to get some feedback from someone besides my spouse but this isn't ready for an agent yet”? That’s where beta readers come in. Beta readers provide feedback on your manuscript before it’s published.
Depending on their goals, writers employ the help of beta readers either before they send their manuscript to a developmental editor or after they've conducted a developmental edit based on an editor's feedback. The benefit of using beta readers before sending a manuscript to an editor is that you can weed out glaring issues (allowing the editor to focus on more subtle issues) and potentially tailor the story toward reader expectations. The benefit of using beta readers after a manuscript has already been professionally edited is that you get to share a more polished version of your story and you'll be close enough to publishing to request positive PR for your book.
When you select beta readers you usually move away from the feedback of spouse or best friend and into the land of more distanced readers. Many authors get their beta readers from their existing fanbase, like people who have subscribed to their newsletter. Another good way to find a beta reader is to specifically target people who you think have a unique perspective on your work. Below, I’ll review three of the most common types of beta readers smart authors seek out, how to get useful critique from your beta readers, and some extra tips to help you get the most out of your beta reader experience.
Recognizing the Different Types of Beta Readers
The Expert
The Expert is the type of beta reader you seek out because of the expertise they have on the topic of your book. If you’re writing a book on how to maintain pristine and beautiful tropical fish tanks, a zoologist would be a good set of eyes to get on your work. Likewise if you’re writing a children’s book, a mom who reads to her children often would be a good beta reader since she’ll have a good feel for what kids like. The Expert Beta Reader provides valuable feedback that a generalized audience wouldn’t be able to give.
The Everyman
Having sung the praises of the Expert Beta reader and their specialized wisdom, don’t count the everyday beta reader out of your queue of feedback givers. For example, if you’re writing a YA urban fantasy, don’t count out the teenage crowd you’re so lovingly writing towards. For goodness’ sake, put your work in front of the types of readers you hope to read your book before it’s published! You’ll be able to implement feedback on the types of things they like, don’t like, or have seen too much of already.
The Everyman Beta Reader is someone who has their finger on the pulse of your work’s niche. Because they read it often (even if they don’t necessarily have the writer words or industry terms to critique your work) they can still point you in the direction of a golden revision if coached well on how to give you feedback. (More on that later.)
The English Teacher
The English Teacher Beta Reader doesn’t necessarily have to be your eighth grade English teacher, but they’re the type of person who’s bound to point out a grammar error on a sign or cock an eyebrow at a weak argument in a piece of writing. I’ve known authors who do literally seek out the help of their former college professors but you can also just seek out the help of people you know are good writers themselves. This type of Beta Reader can help you tighten your writing and weed out the type of common error that might end up costing you extra money in a proofread or copyedit.
How to Request Effective Beta Reader Feedback
When done right, beta readers are an often underutilized gold mine for self editing. However, just because asking beta readers to give you feedback is part of the self-editing process doesn’t mean you should send unpolished first drafts to them.
You need to treat beta readers as the respectable and valuable part of your readership that they are. You wouldn’t send a typo-riddled, half-baked plot draft to a bookstore owner who you’re hoping will stock your book, would you? Then don’t treat the people who will likely stock their bookshelf with your work and spread the good news of your literary genius that way either.
A manuscript should only be sent to beta readers once it’s gone through a few drafts. They’re meant to catch the last few plot holes, lack of character likability, confusing bits of prose, etc. before you hand off your work to the public. You want beta readers to spend their time pointing out developmental issues, not the fact that you spelled quiet with two t’s.
Here are some ways to request beta reader feedback that will actually be helpful:
Ask for targeted advice. Maybe you aren’t sure if one of your characters are flat or if you’ve provided enough research to back up your premise. Go ahead and tell beta readers to give their opinion on this specific topic. If you know your weakest point is writing dialogue, ask them to keep an eye out for choppy or inauthentic dialogue. In many cases you know what you need, so ask ask ask.
Let beta readers know in advance that what you’re giving them is not a final copy and so there may be small errors like typos that you don’t want them paying attention to. You don’t want your beta readers wasting precious time placing commas when they should be using it to examine your plot. Let them know in advance their job is not to be your proofreader, that you plan to hire professionals for that.
Be up front and ask beta readers if there was anything they didn’t see in your work that they would’ve liked to read, whether that’s the fleshing out of an argument you thought was a tangent or an aspect of world building you thought would be extraneous. Some beta readers can be shy so this can do a lot to encourage them to let their honest opinions loose.
Let them know you won’t necessarily be implementing all the feedback given. Setting up the boundary of a take-it-or-leave-it advice kind of relationship can save you the headache of entitled expectations later.
Give your beta readers a deadline that they need to have their feedback in by. Not only does this light a fire under them so you can get on with the work of your next revision, but this lets them know you’re serious about your work and their feedback is important enough to you that you want to make sure you can use it. Some authors have their beta readers send their feedback about the entire manuscript at once, while other authors give their beta readers micro-deadlines, breaking the manuscript into parts so the beta reader feedback gets back to them in waves. You’ll know what’s best for you.
Thank your beta readers for their hard work! Send them a personal note letting them know you couldn’t have efficiently gotten through the process of revision without them. People love to know they’re appreciated. The most common way authors show appreciation to their beta readers is to send them a signed first edition copy of their book.
Parting Advice
Don’t have too many beta readers
A lot of writers make the common mistake of having too many beta readers. You might have anywhere from 3 beta readers to dozens of beta readers. Just make sure you don’t ask for so much feedback you don’t even know how to sort it all. Receiving beta reader feedback can feel a bit overwhelming as you’re realizing what major part of your manuscript will need to be revised. Don’t make it harder on yourself by receiving an avalanche of it. What you think the extra 20 beta readers will give you in quantity a qualified editor will give you in quality. I recommend having 4 to 10 beta readers.
Don’t take every comment to heart
Some beta readers can get overzealous and make it their job to tear apart parts of your work that don’t really need revising. These types of beta readers mistake the quantity of their feedback for quality. Take every suggestion with a grain of salt. So what if Judy doesn’t like who the protagonist ends up with at the end of the book. At the end of the day, you’re the author, not them.
The squeaky wheel should get the oil
That said, a good indicator a suggested change is a good one is if it’s repeated. If 8 out of 10 of your beta readers report that they think Lucas is a useless character that adds nothing to the plot, chances are, no matter how much you adore Lucas, he’s a useless character that either needs to be dropped or given purpose and relevance.
Beta readers can’t take the place of a professional editor
Although some editors (like me) offer beta reading services, the average beta reader cannot provide the specialized input needed to revise a manuscript to publishable standards. Even professional beta reader feedback isn’t comprehensive enough to create a manuscript you should be proud to hand to a publisher or final readers. Editors know the craft of writing in a way beta readers do not. They know the foundational elements needed to create an actual polished work.
You don’t want to sell yourself short of true developmental editing or proofreading input just because you don’t want to invest money in the process. If you’re going to spend countless hours working on a piece of writing you might as well make sure it’s not in vain. Readers don’t like sloppy drafts passed off as final ones and they will let you know so with either their brutal comments or their wallets.
I hope you’ve found this article helpful in your journey to partner with beta readers. Don’t hesitate to contact me when you’re ready for a professional edit!
Comments