Beta Readers
Congratulations! You finished the first draft of your book and took a step back. Now you’re ready to get back into it, but you’re stuck . . . what’s next?
Let’s start with self-editing. Self-editing is pretty self-explanatory: you read through the book again and again and again, editing while you go to make the book better. The number of read-throughs you do and the amount of time you spend on this is completely up to you. There isn’t a set number of drafts you must go through before moving on.
For tips on self-editing, check out these two blog posts: here and here.
When you feel like you’ve done all you can and are starting to nitpick or you need advice on what to do next, it’s time to move on to beta readers.
What Are Beta Readers?
Before paying anyone to edit your book, you can have beta readers read it to give you advice for free! (Yes, sometimes beta readers are paid. Those ones will probably guarantee better feedback than randoms from Facebook, but it’s up to you.)
Beta readers provide you with advice for the content of your book—yes, it’s that general. If you want them to focus on something specifically, ask them to do that: “Hi, when you’re reading my book, can you look at how the chapters are broken up? Let me know if you think it’s effective or know of another way to do it.” Otherwise, they’ll tell you whatever they think about your book from a reader’s standpoint.
Do I Need Beta Readers?
Nope, beta readers are not required for you to publish a book, but I think it’s a good idea to utilize them.
Betas are really helpful because they could point out large plot holes or gaps in logic, incomplete character arcs, anything confusing or upsetting for the reader, etc. They won’t provide the most technical of advice, and beta readers don’t replace editors, but it’s still helpful in guiding you where to go next in your self-editing. Having a second pair of eyes on your book (even if they’re amateur) can still be really helpful!
Who Can Be Beta Readers?
Anyone! You can! Your beta readers can be friends, family, other professionals in your field, strangers who love to read your genre, or other writers who read or write in your genre. It’s literally anyone with an interest in your book.
If someone who doesn’t like your genre is a beta reader for your book, their feedback will be that they don’t like it. Obviously. So choose people who read or write in your genre. If they’re familiar with the genre, they’ll know the ins and outs of it too, so they might be able to give you more specific advice for your book.
Where Do I Find Beta Readers?
You can find beta readers anywhere: your social circles, writers’ groups or workshops, social media (Facebook has some great groups for finding betas).
Tip: You can swap writings with another author in the same genre; then you both beta read for each other. They’ll likely give you better feedback than some other random since you have their manuscript and are hoping for great advice from you too.
How Long Should I Give Them To Read My Book?
It’s important to give the beta readers a deadline. If you don’t, they might never finish reading it. (You know how it goes when you don’t have a deadline and there’s nothing holding you accountable.)
The length of time depends on how long the book is. If your book is 25,000 words (about 100 pages), maybe give them a few weeks. If your book is 100,000 words (about 400 pages), they’ll need a little longer. Maybe two months would be enough. It can depend on who you choose too. If it’s friends and family who devour books in an afternoon, the deadline can be shorter. If it’s super-busy people who have a week-long work trip coming up and their kids’ birthday parties and book club to host, maybe they need more time. The important part is that you set a deadline.
How Many Beta Readers Should I Have?
How many also depends on your book. If you have a lot of questions for beta readers, maybe get a lot of them to make sure all your bases are covered. Two people is probably the minimum. Eight might be pushing it. Too many opinions can be overwhelming for you. Too few won’t give you enough data. You decide. There isn’t a wrong way to do this—especially since it’s not even required.
What If They Steal My Work?
First, don’t send your work to people who give you weird steal-your-work vibes. Second, you technically have copyright protection of your work as soon as you write it (in the US). Your computer likely has dated tags of when you created, edited, and sent the document to other people. That’s enough proof in the US that it’s your work. Proving that in court is a lot of work though, so you can get a nondisclosure agreement online to send to them instead if you’re worried. If they’re sketchy about signing it, don’t send them your work. Easy as that.
What If Their Advice Sucks?
Don’t listen to it. You don’t have to do anything they say. You can do the opposite of what they say. This is your book. You make the decisions. That’s why you’re self-publishing, right?
Take any advice you get with a grain of salt. It’s probably a good idea to consider the feedback and find out why they suggested it, but you definitely don’t have to do anything they say. And if their advice was free, no harm done.
What Do I Do Now?
Next, do more self-editing based on their feedback. Like I said, you don’t have to do anything they say, but if there is any advice that you like, take the time now to incorporate it. Once you’re finished with that, you can start working with editors! (Although, you probably should have started searching for editors and booking them a while ago since they’re normally booked out a few months.)
Not sure when you’re ready to hire an editor? Check out this blog post with signs to help you know when it’s time to take the next step: here.