Here’s a scenario you probably want to avoid:
You put your novel out into the world… and nothing happens.
Or worse, you get reviews, but they are far from the glowing accolades you had hoped for.
How do you prevent this fate from happening to your book?
One way to ensure this doesn’t happen to you, is to get feedback on your novel before you self publish or pitch to agents.
Enter: Your beta readers
What are beta readers?
Beta readers are a test audience for your book. They read an early version of your novel and provide high level feedback on how the book landed for them, where they were confused, or if something about the story made them put the book down and not finish it.
Beta readers can be incredibly helpful as you decide where to focus your energy in your writing and revising. But it’s crucial to your goals that you use them at the right time and choose them well.
Do you need to use beta readers?
My short answer is: Yes!
Whether you’re planning to pursue traditional publishing or self publish, you need eyes on your book before you can know that it’s ready.
You don’t want the first time that someone interacts with your book to be after you’ve released it into the world, be that in publication or during pitching.
Why? All writers (myself included) have blind spots for their writing. You see what you believe is on the page, not what is actually written. And because you’re so close to the story, you usually can’t see what’s missing.
Beta readers provide a fresh perspective and feedback to shine a light on those blind spots.
What should you look for in a beta reader?
When choosing your beta readers, think carefully about the people you select. Sharing your writing with others, especially in the early stages, is a vulnerable act. It’s a responsibility that beta readers shouldn’t take lightly.
I write in this blog post about why you shouldn’t consider family relationships when identifying safe people to tell about your writing. That advice goes double when we’re talking about beta readers!
You do not need to hear from doubters and downers right now. Choose people you know will be supportive and gentle, even as they point out the weak parts of your novel.
You’re looking for a very specific type of person: they should be able to keep in mind that your novel is in its early stages, and is not a polished book that they’d pick up from the bookstore.
Especially if you are using beta readers earlier in your process, they need to understand that they are reading a work in progress that will have inconsistencies, typos, and errors – and they need to be okay with that.
They also need to be able to follow instructions. You should give beta readers a short, specific list of what kind of feedback you’re looking for, and they should be people who will adhere to those guidelines. A reader who comments on punctuation and grammar errors when you specifically asked them to focus on pacing, is not going to be much help to you.
Finally, they should be familiar with the genre you’re writing in. If they only read science fiction, and you’re writing a romance, they won’t be familiar with the expectations of your future audience.
When should you use beta readers?
The answer here is… it depends. Specifically, it depends on what your goals are.
First, ask yourself if the manuscript is ready enough. Don’t send beta readers a messy first draft and expect them to be able to provide helpful feedback. Make sure you’ve gone through at least one to three rounds of revision. It doesn’t have to be perfectly polished, but if it’s too rough your beta readers won’t be able to follow the story.
Next, consider the type of feedback you’re looking for. If you want to confirm big picture things, like is the story on the page and believable, you’ll want to seek out beta readers earlier in the process. If you want feedback on more polished elements like pacing and voice, a beta read later in the writing process will be most helpful.
Ultimately, I believe there are benefits to both early and late stage beta reads, and you’re best served by doing both.
Think of it this way, you want to feel you have a solid story before you spend time revising and refining it. If you wait until you believe your novel is completely finished and polished before you employ beta readers, they may point out a plot problem that sends you back to square one, and all that polishing you did was for naught.
Getting feedback on your book may feel intimidating, but it’s an important step in writing a novel. You don’t want the first feedback on your novel to come after you’ve self published, or after you’ve started pitching to agents. You want to have an idea of how your novel is landing with readers before you go public in a big way.
Leave a Reply