As any writer knows, you can only
improve your work by obtaining constructive and unbiased feedback on your
writing. The only problem is that finding the right people to read for you is easier
said than done! I talk about my AWESOME beta team (shout out to you ten
incredible people, you know who you are!) a lot, and so I regularly get asked
by Indie authors how I find my beta readers. Hopefully this post will answer
that question and a lot more. Remember, there are a million different ways to
constructive a quality beta team, but this is the approach that’s led to my
team. I’ll break it down by answering three common questions: 1) How many beta
readers should I have? 2) How do I find beta readers? 3) What do I ask my beta
readers to do?
1)
How many readers should you have?
This is a very personal decision and
really depends on the readers. If you can get three or four really amazing,
experienced, detail-oriented beta readers, then that might be enough for you.
However, for me, I prefer a larger team, eight to ten, for a couple of reasons.
First, people get busy, and they may
not always have time to read for you, so it’s good to have backups. Plus,
eventually people might just get tired of doing it. Beta reading is exhausting
work, especially for my readers, who usually get a new manuscript every two
months. Finding replacements is NOT easy, so I like to have plenty of readers
available.
Second, I’ve found that even with a
team of ten beta readers, everyone brings something different to the table.
I’ve got a beta reader who’s extremely logical and is fantastic at poking holes
in my plots and the worlds I create. No one else asks the same hard questions
as him. Another of my readers sees the big picture really well, and is great at
honing in on why a character isn’t as likeable as they should be. A few others
push me to the boundaries of my imagination, to develop backstories that reach
further back than I ever considered. Everyone has something to offer. I always
find it so cool when I get that last piece of beta feedback, the tenth reader,
and find a nugget in there that is so mind-blowing that my novel isn’t the same
without it. So yeah, more readers works better for me.
That being said, there has to be a
limit. At some point the feedback becomes unmanageable and comments start to
contradict each other and you end up being more confused than you were before.
My limit is ten readers, and I rarely see conflicting comments. Trends always
emerge and I know where to focus. It’s my magic number. Yours might be
different. Experiment with it. If you try eight readers and it’s too
overwhelming, decrease the number of readers the next time. If you use three
readers and you don’t feel you get enough constructive feedback or substance to
properly revise your manuscript, add a few readers. Your team should be a
fluid, changing, always improving creature.
2)
How do I find beta readers?
Ah, the question I get the most.
Well, it’s not exactly a science, although there are some criteria you
absolutely need in your beta readers:
-They need to be honest and
unbiased. Does that mean you can’t know them? Not necessarily, as long as
they’re willing to give you the hard, honest feedback you need. I’d generally
(I say “generally” because my wife, Adele, is one of my best beta readers—she’s
brutally honest and saves me from myself all the time!) steer clear of close
friends and family members though, there’s something inherently biased about
those kinds of relationships.
-They need to have an opinion! Having
someone who always says your writing is awesome is a great boost for the
self-esteem, but it’s not very helpful and not usually true. All writers need
improvement, no matter how good you are (or think you are). I’ve had beta
readers who’d tell me every book I gave them was awesome and better than the
previous one. Ummm….thanks? If I’d released my first drafts, the general public
wouldn’t have been so complimentary, that’s for sure. So look for critical
readers.
I know, I know, these types of
honest, opinionated, unbiased people sound AWESOME, but where do you find them?
I can only speak for how I found my
readers, which is on Goodreads. What I do not recommend is creating a thread
that says “Help! Beta Readers Needed for a YA Paranormal Romance Novel!” Why
not? You literally have no control over who might answer your call. Yes, they
will likely be unbiased, potentially honest, and have very strong opinions, but
who knows how reliable they’ll be. Personally, I’ve requested help from people
I’ve met on Goodreads in the following three categories:
A) Friends. These are people I’ve
chatted with about books and formed a friendly relationship with. There are hundreds of people I’ve met who fall
into this category, but what I’m looking for are people who I’ve seen have
strong opinions, who read books in my genre, and who seem to read a lot of
books. People like that have worked out really well for me. About five out of
my ten readers fit into this category.
B) Referrals. Occasionally I get
referrals from my other beta readers or from other connections. Usually they’re
people who are interested in critical reading, either because they’re English
majors and looking to make a career out of it, or they just enjoy it. Either
way, the referrals I’ve received have always worked out really well. Two of my
ten readers fit into this category.
C) Haters. These are random critical
readers who hate my early books. This is also my favorite category! This one is
a bit of a wild card, but the three of my ten readers who fall into this
category have worked out incredibly well for me. Two of them really disliked my
debut novel, Angel Evolution, and one of them didn’t care for the first book in
my second series, The Moon Dwellers, which is my most popular book. The thing
is, I’ve received plenty of 1 and 2 star reviews, so how did I pick these
particular three readers? (Note: I’ve literally only tried this three times,
and ALL three accepted my invitation and have been on my team for over a year
and read at least SEVEN of my books.)
The answer is I picked them very
carefully. You have to be careful whenever you contact negative reviewers for
your books. I don’t recommend doing it often, and only if your reason is unrelated
to arguing or disputing their review. In this case, it was the complete
opposite. I wanted to commend their reviews and offer them a spot on my team. I
avoid all 1-star reviewers, because in my opinion, if someone can’t find at
least one thing redeeming about my book, then they’re probably not the right
reader for me anyway. I want people who are open-minded, but critical. All
three of my betas in this category have been two star reviewers. The next thing
I looked for were intelligent, thorough, logical reviews that made me say “Good
point, I wish I’d had them as a beta for this book.” If I’m saying that while reading their NEGATIVE review
(rather than getting all angry and melancholy about the bad review), then the
review must be pretty constructive. Finally, I look for negative reviews that
give credit to the things they DID like. I want my betas to be somewhat
balanced and to tell me the things that they loved about my book as well as
what they didn’t like, so that I don’t end up changing their favorite parts.
What you don’t change is just as important as what you do.
So that’s how I recruit my betas!
Every time I lose one (for whatever reason), I go to my list of referrals, or
to my negative reviews, or to my contacts, and consider who might be the best
for my team. You may find your beta readers in a completely different way
though, everyone’s a little different!
Recommendation:
Be sure to include your beta readers in your acknowledgments and give them
credit for the help they gave you! And it’s nice to give them ARCs of your
books, too, most of them will usually write you some awesome reviews before
your books even hit the shelves!
3)
What do I ask my beta readers to do?
Again, this is up to you. I’ve taken
a few different approaches, but the longer you’re with the same team, the more it
tends to become less formal. For example, at first I provided a list of
questions, hitting the key areas (characters, plot, setting, beginning, ending,
etc.), and asked them to answer each of my questions. But over time, I’ve
essentially just told them to read my book and tell me what they liked and what
they didn’t. However, here’s a solid list of the type of feedback your beta
readers should be giving you:
-Characters: Is each character's voice strong, distinct, and different than the other characters? Were
there any characters you didn't like, annoyed you, or frustrated you. Why? (The
quickest way to kill a book is with main characters people don't like, so you
want to "fix" them before you go live!)
-Beginning: Did
it draw you into the story, catch your attention and make you want to keep
reading?
-Pacing: Did the
story move too fast, too slow, just right? Any areas you got bogged down?
-Ending: Did you
like it, love it, hate it. Why?
-Plot consistency
and clarity: Did the plot make sense? Were there any inconsistencies or plot
holes?
-Setting: Was the setting of the
story clearly described? Did it make sense?
These are several of the areas I
expect my beta readers to focus in on, but they are by no means a complete
list. And depending on the nature of your project, you may have additional,
more specific areas you want your readers to focus on.
One final recommendation is that you
ask your beta readers to be as specific as possible, including a quote from the
manuscript for which the comment applies. That will make it easier for you to
locate the part of the book and consider any changes required.
Thank you all for reading about how
I find and work with my beta readers! I hope you found it interesting and/or
helpful! Happy reading and writing, and always feel free to ask me any specific
questions if you have them!!
