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I was just given the most fantastic beta reading feedback for a WIP. Not only was it super cohesive and detailed, but they also highlighted parts of the story they really liked.
Also no punches were pulled, which I deeply appreciate.
It truly is a priceless gift
i got some feedback on my chapter 1 that really, really stung.
and i’m kind of not motivated to get back into the whole story now.
Beta Reading: What Feedback Should I Implement?
Last year, I talked about how to give useful feedback as a beta reader, and I thought it’d be a good idea to brush up on this topic from a new angle. Giving feedback is one thing, but taking it is another. How do you decide what feedback you want to bring into your editing process? Whether you’re working with a beta reader, a critique partner, or even a paid editor, the thought process is…
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Looking for a beta reader (both ways if needed)
So I’ve been thinking and I really want someone I can ask advice about my story and they can eventually be my first beta reader, and in exchange I would do the same for you. So please if you are willing to do this message me/answer to this post please and thank you! You can find about my WIP here
When you come up with your next mini series idea and this is the response when telling @ne-gans you know it's gonna be a good one!
(also @mummybear feedback was also very encouraging)
I don't think I could ever stress enough how important beta feedback is when you're in a planning/writing phase of a fic. It's VITAL. If you don't get good beta feedback from a fic then sometimes it ends up scrapped or not seeing the light of day on here/other platforms because you don't have enough confidence to post it.
If you ever beta for someone please please please give valuable feedback. Constructive criticism is welcome when approached the right way. That's what beta'ing is for. But there's nothing worse as a writer than having to coax a response from your beta about their opinion on a fic and only have "it's good" as a response.
Just some food for thought.
How To Collect and Organize Beta Reader Feedback
As some of you might know, I previously wrote a full draft of my currently untitled m/m romance novel and got through an almost full round of beta readers before I decided to scrap it and start again, nearly from scratch and with a different premise (It went from two timelines - first love/second chance to a single timeline - enemies to lovers).
Out of nowhere, I decided to start rereading and reorganizing my feedback in hopes to find something that would be useful to me in my current draft. Originally, I just planned to delete everything that wasn’t relevant, but a lot of it was really cute and funny, and I mean, I did write a full book - even if it wasn’t all that good - I at least deserve to keep my feedback from it.
Before I went on this endeavor, I foolishly believed that there’s no wrong way to collect beta feedback and boy, oh boy was I wrong! So I’m here to tell you the wrong ways and the right way. But first, let’s revise our terms:
What is a Beta Reader?
Beta readers are readers, who would be interested in picking your book off the shelf if it were already published. That means you should already have a pretty good idea of what is your genre and age category is. There’s no such thing as a ‘fiction book for everyone’. While certain books might have broader appeal, all books have a target audience. So figure out yours.
The reason to know this from the start is two-fold. First, obviously to know how and where to market your book. Second, different genres come with different expectations and you really don’t want to piss off your core readership. You’re not going to be able to please everyone, and if you try, you’re likely to end up pleasing no one. So while it’s definitely a good idea to look for diversity in your beta readers, you should probably not be looking for genre diversity.
I’m gonna let you in a little secret: for the longest time, I had no idea I was writing a romance novel. Part of it was that I really just hadn’t read a contemporary queer romance, so subconsciously thought that (contemporary) romance was for the straights only. But the bigger part was that my story just wasn’t well structured so I had no idea what the main conflict was supposed to be. And let’s just say... that didn’t exactly do me any favors when I was trying to get people interested in reading it. You can’t really amp others up about a project if you don’t know what the project is about.
Not only that, but I had a cp/beta reader who while wonderful, wasn’t a romance fan, so there were several points where I felt frustrated with their critique because I felt they simply didn’t like certain conventions of the genre. And that’s not their fault - we were just not a great match. Still appreciate working with them, but I know better now.
Where to find Beta readers?
You can find them anywhere. Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook groups, Discord servers and so on. Just look around. I assume you’re writing your story because you want to read something like it, and if you want to read it, someone else probably wants to read it too.
How to collect Beta feedback?
I normally use Google Docs or sometimes Word. Chapter by chapter is definitely best. It’s much less overwhelming to try to read 10 pages than 210. Copy/Paste the chapter in a new document and send it to the beta, after warning them for any triggers or squicks that might apply.
If you’re using Word, send the document over email. If you’re using Google Docs, share it with their email. Make sure to share it through email and not create links (like me), because it’s much safer that way. If you share it, only the person with the access to the email can see it, if you make a link, anyone with the link can see it. Again chances of plagiarism are minuscule, but still.
On Google Docs you want to give them Comment permission. That way they can make comments in the margins and any edits they make will show up like Track Changes on Word. If they are using Word and making edits, simply encourage them to turn on Track Changes.
Encourage betas to make comments while reading, on everything that they liked, disliked, found confusing, or anything that made any impression at all. Even if’s just ‘lol’ or a keyboard smash. Sometimes those are the best comments to read!
But also keep in mind that not everyone will do that. That’s why I always have a questionnaire or do an interview with the beta. Questions tend to prompt people into organizing their thoughts a bit. Because I’m nice, I’ll share my questionnaire with you, (it is actually an adjusted version of @jennamoreci‘s questionnaire from her beta readers video here:
1. What is your overall opinion of the chapter?
2. What do you think of x character ?
3. What is your favorite scene/part/line and why? (You can pick more than one.)
4. What is your least favorite scene/part/line and why? (You can pick more than one.)
5. Are any parts confusing or unclear?
6. Do you think there’s anything specific I need to improve or fix in the chapter, whether it’s the writing, the charters, plot, setting, etc.?
7. On a scale of 1 to 10, how much did you enjoy the chapter?
8. On a scale of 1 to 10, how eager are you to read the next chapter?
9. On a scale of 1 to 10, how much are you enjoying the book so far (not applicable to chapter 1)?
10. Do you have any predictions?
12. Do you have any other comments, thoughts, suggestions, or advice?
You can also add questions specific to the chapter, especially if you are already worried about a particular aspect of it. You should also ask their opinion on every character who shows up in the chapter.
I prefer to put this questionnaire at the end of the document I send to my beta reader, that way I’m sure they won’t be accidentally spoiling something with my questions and they can go over it right after reading instead of waiting for our schedules to match so we can have an interview. It’s a bit of a copy-pasting game, sure, but ultimately it takes no more than a couple of minutes. I would discourage you from having the questionnaire in the same document you are writing because it might end up messing with your word count, and lie to you that you’ve written more words than you actually have.
Afterward, if you need any clarifications on their answers, message the beta on their preferred platform - for me, that’s usually Discord, sometimes Twitter or Tumblr - to ask for clarifications. Sometimes you can also explain what you were going for, especially if the beta had a question, but don’t overdo it. You don’t want to seem argumentative.
Oh, and be sure to thank your beta readers. Don’t forget they are giving up their time to help you for free. Nothing annoys me more from a beta reader perspective, then to not receive even a form thank you.
How to Organize Beta Feedback?
So this is the big one. After you receive your beta feedback, address all the small things you can like typos and grammar right away (unless you’re already pretty sure you’ll be deleting/rewriting the scene) and mark stuff, that they’ve pointed out is badly phrased, etc. for later. Then delete irrelevant feedback, like one-word answers or ‘no opinion’. The feedback you disagree with might be unpleasant to read, but that doesn’t make it irrelevant. And if something makes you really mad, chances are it’s something you probably need to work on.
Then copy all the feedback - every comment and every answer, even if you disagree with them - into a separate document organized BY CHAPTER, not by beta name. This was the mistake I made. You’ll need this feedback when you move on to revision and you really don’t want to have a million tabs or documents open. Аlso it’s much easier to spot patterns if everything is in the same place. And if several people are saying the same thing, that’s probably something to pay attention to.
Oh, don’t play around with fonts too much. I make everything the same font, but at first, I tried to make it really distinguished between what quote from the manuscript the beta was responding to and the beta’s own words, and honestly, you wrote your book, you know it pretty well. 99.9% of the time you can easily tell what they were responding to and what’s a quote from the book and what is the beta’s own words.
Good luck on your beta journey!
Beta (reasonably): This scene should be cut, and here's why.
Me, screaming internally: Don't defensively justify Don't defensively justify Don't defensively justify-- too late.
