The ever elusive perfect beta reader. They exist, I’m sure, but I’ve never met them.
No matter what happens, you’ll never have a perfect beta reader, and that’s fine. There’s plenty of other fish, blah blah, other dating aphorisms. And it is kind of like dating, because you’re relying on these folks to touch the heart of who you are; your writing.
According to Wikipedia, a Beta Reader is a test reader of an unreleased work of writing, typically literature, who gives feedback to the author from the point of view of an average reader. This feedback can be used by the writer to fix remaining issues with plot, pacing, and consistency. The beta reader also serves as a sounding board to see if the work has the intended intellectual or emotional impact on the target market.
As Wikipedia pointed out, beta readers come with many uses. Not to speak of them as if they’re tools rather than helpful human beings, but it cannot be denied that a good beta reader is worth their weight in gold.
Below are seven values I’ve identified that are useful, especially to aspiring authors.
First Reactions: They can identify what’s exciting, boring, or worst of all, repetitive.
Pacing: Beta readers are great at noticing when things need a quick changeup.
Feedback on Characters: Would character A have really said that? Or would that bit of dialogue fit better with character B.
Plot Consistency: Plot holes, the bane of any pantser. If a beta reader pays attention, they should be able to find these at need.
Suggested improvements and ideas: You have your ideas, and they have their own. What the story becomes is shaped by the author’s hand, but that doesn’t mean you should discount a beta reader with a creative mind.
Grammar/Wording: Self-explanatory
Quick Ask
What's the difference between an editor and a beta reader?
For this, let’s perform a quick exercise.
Think of a beta reader like a character in a video game or LitRPG. They come with all the little elements we’re used to seeing, including boons/traits and stats. Now consider what matters the most from your point of view.
Do you want greater perception skills (the ability to catch major issues)?
What about strength and constitution (the ability to continue reading the story for a long time without breaks)?
How about Intelligence (great ideas that help the author bridge disparate portions of the story)?
Rarely will a single beta reader encompass all of these elements. Just like no single person, or even character in a video game, tends to have all of these elements as well. So, really, if you can’t find someone with every element you need, then find more than a few who can help you out in different ways.
How many beta readers is too many?
There’s no perfect answer to this question. I know of one author with two dozen, while I tend to prefer no more than 3. I can’t explain my multi-dozen friend, but I can explain my own choice.
When publishing chapters, I prefer to have my beta readers go through them in their entirety. Normally, there are very few grammatical errors within my writing, but there’s always something off or strange in a particular scene. I, as the author, can’t see it. If you read my webserial-to-novel editing post here, you’d know that most people can’t see the bigger issues in their writing until a great deal of time has passed.
But a beta reader can.
However, with my personal hang-up, I often find myself waiting for my 3 beta readers to weigh in on each chapter before doing anything with it. That’s a choice. I’m choosing to give them time to look over the writing before I show it to anyone else in the world. Simply reasoned; it’s because I trust them.
I will do anything I can to make my writing better.
So, final answer, it’s completely up to you. Three is just what works best for me.
Where to find them
First, a little bias from me. I’m aware this isn’t true of all situations, but I’m going to give a little warning here.
I don’t like my friends or family to beta read for me. Most of the time, they’re not into the same genre that I write, and that can cause large trope(ic) problems. Another reason is, I don’t want to grow to resent my friends and family. While friendly with my beta readers, we’re not perfectly friends either. I can take their criticism without breaking a sweat or crying, as long as they don’t use that one terrible word.
Contrived.
So, that’s my friendly warning.
As for where to find them otherwise, there’s several ways.
- Writing Groups
- Subreddits (by asking in a post)
- Discords (there are actual discords just for beta readers)
- Social Media like Facebook (This is where my warning comes in handy)
- And, lastly in a separate section, I’ll explain what I did: A Quiz
The QUIZ
Once I had my first series, Symphony, up and running, I realized I needed a beta reader. But how to get one?
I wasn’t as informed back then as I am now. So I came up with an original idea. Why don’t I make a quiz for Symphony to test their knowledge and put out a call to the world for help?
The way I angled it was toward their rewards:
Read early
Influence the story and have a little fun
Eighteen respondents came in, and three were chosen. One, my buddy Wanderer, was chosen automatically because he was very vocal on my Discord, so the Quiz was just something I required so he could look it over. He was my first-ever beta reader.
But for the other two, they wow’d me by coming up with unique powers I hadn’t considered before in the theorycrafting section. As a teacher, I designed the quiz to be a bit tough in the multiple-choice section, then completely open for the short-answer response section. Both did well on multiple-choice, but it was their creativity that really sold me on them.
Finding readers this way isn’t unique to RR. Anybody can take a Google Form, make a quiz, and post it on social media, Discord, or anywhere links work (text messages, too). The reason I built it was a quiz was that I was looking for people who enjoyed the story, had good memories, and were creative. Both of the fellows I signed up have been with me ever since.
Once Wanderer took a sabbatical, I did the same thing again to find his replacement for my new series, QuestWright. That’s the nice thing about it: you can do this anytime, for as many series as you want. The only limit is your choice.
The Beta Reading Process
The beta reader process tends to be rather simple, so this will be short.
Optional: Show your beta readers your chapter/arc/world-building plans
Step 1: Finish the draft, hand off to beta reader (Google Doc has worked best for me)
Step 2: They give notes, either in Discord, email, or using suggestions on the doc. This includes reactions, breakdowns of what doesn’t work, so on and so on. ——————-Additional note: I like it when they tell me what they liked and didn’t like, so I get a more rounded out understanding of the chapter.
Step 3: Look at their notes, make decisions on what you approve of, then move on. You don’t have to explain yourself if you don’t want to. Though it is friendlier, it can also seem weak to more alpha-type beta readers. Which leads us to our last section.
Final note: Trust
Showing early writing to someone requires a large degree of trust. After meeting them, you have to decide how much faith you have in them not being a bad actor.
If you’re not that trusting, maybe don’t give them access to folders; instead, give them permission to individual chapters, then take it away when you move on. It’s entirely up to you.
Another note on trust, and a finale to this write-up: You don’t have to take their advice.
How you change the chapter/writing/plot is completely up to you. Ultimately, all choices having to do with the story are up to you. DO NOT let a beta reader push you around. This is your novel/web-serial, and nobody else’s. If you make a change that they pushed upon you, then regret it years later, it may already be too late for the story.
Being an author means making choices. Choice, after choice, after choice. You’re choosing a genre, characters, plot elements, and even beta readers. Choosing who you let advise you on all of the above is a major decision.
Hopefully this guide has helped you out a little.
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