Weekly Writers: Polishing The Draft, Tip #4

Beta readers

Beta readers are a possible additional layer of assessment, often used by independent authors but available regardless of your means of publishing.

Beta readers are a small and trusted group who read the work when the draft has gone through numerous edits and is just about finished. Then they give feedback. The key thing to realise is that they are not professional editors, they are fans (and their feedback comes before the professional editing stages). As such, a beta reader’s perspective is different, and is more focussed on what they enjoy in terms of the story and characters, and whether the book meets their expectations.

The beta reader concept is similar to focus groups, seeing what people think of a product or creation. It’s important that the beta readers are fans of the book’s genre. And if the book is part of series, it helps if the beta readers are familiar with the previous books. Often that’s where beta readers come from: the super fans who want to be involved, who love the characters and worlds so much that they don’t mind reading a less polished (but still good quality and complete!) version of the story.

This process can be a useful chance to see things through fresh eyes, and to get an idea of whether this is a book people will buy and love and rave about, or if it falls short. If there are issues with the work then it can be an early warning, and there may well be ways to make the book more satisfying (without betraying your vision).

I’ve occasionally used beta readers, usually the fans I have the best connection with. Their feedback has shaped some of my stories. Beta readers can also be used to give feedback on possible covers, taglines and blurbs (all discussed in later posts), seeing which variants appeal to them most as readers.

How many beta readers? A single beta reader can have a skewed perspective, but gathering the opinions of more than one helps ameliorate this. And yet, you don’t want too many, or the feedback might become overwhelming. I find about five is a good number to aim for.

What kind of questions should you ask? It depends on the work and what issues you think it may have. It’s always useful to provide a questionnaire to guide the beta readers. Some possibilities:

• What were your overall impressions?

• Which bits of the book did you enjoy? What did you want more of?

• What did you dislike? Any bits that dragged, or were over-explained, clunky, or confusing? What did you want less of?

• How satisfying was the ending?

It is important to show gratitude to anyone helping you out in these ways. Free copies of the books, and a thank you in the acknowledgements are both appreciated.

If you are just starting out, then colleagues, contacts or friends might be able to help fulfil this beta reader role until you generate a larger group of true fans of your work.

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