The Mermaid Diaries (4) - The Readers before the Readers
I’ve done this beta-reading process about 7 times already, I thought I’d take this opportunity and share my personal beta reading process, in case it’s helpful to any readers or writers who are unsure how to go about it.
No worries, we can figure it out together.
Here are a few simple steps to follow, if you are a writer or a reader looking to beta read for someone or get your manuscript beta read:
1. Anyone can be a beta reader
Beta reading is the process where a book gets read by a few people before it’s given to the professional editor and subsequently published. These readers are test-readers. They read the book to see if it gets the reaction the author wanted, and to point out flaws.
So, basically all someone needs in order to be a beta reader, is to be a reader, and specifically a reader of the genre the book is in (it must be something they generally read, and read a lot of -your mom does NOT qualify). But other than that, that’s it.
Then they share their thoughts with the author, and help them make their book more awesome than it already is.
2. Why they are necessary
Because it costs too much to keep sending all your drafts to the editor. Also, because the editor’s job is not to read your book like a reader and tell you what reaction it will get. An editor edits. A writer writes. A reader reads. So any book will be so much more polished if it’s read a few times over by actual readers before it’s released to be torn apart to be enjoyed by the general public.
2. What a beta reader does - the beta reading process
This is extremely personal to every author and reader, so I am not going to try to post any general info on here. I am instead going to share my own process, taken out of the email I recently sent to my SFA lovely betas.
This is the way it works for me, and it has worked for years. Every author and reader is different, so I have adapted it a few times as my books came out and I became more experienced. So this is the product of all the wisdom I have collected over a lot of years, a lot of betas (not all of them good - we’ll get to that later), a lot of books and a lot a lot of hard work.
[...}You are the second (elite) batch of beta readers, so I’m sure you’ll catch any mistakes or inconsistencies, or anything else… (I hope there aren’t many at this point, but I did change the story A LOT, so I’m sure there are a few). I have split the book in 5 batches, and I hope we’ll be able to conclude this within a month –as I said, I need this to be beta read by the first week of August. But of course, if you need more time, tell me, it’s absolutely ok.
Below are the questions. As soon as you read your batch, you can send me an email answering these for each chapter, if you like, and then I’ll send you the next batch and so on. So here is what I need from you:
1. What you loved. Please feel free to share quotes, or scenes, or anything really that you liked in this section. I need to know what made you love this book, this story, the characters (if anything did). This is the most important and longest answer you’ll send me, because I need people to love what they read. If they don’t, we need to fix that.
2. What you didn’t like for some reason or other, not in the plot. (For example, I’m not expecting you to tell me you didn’t like the antagonist’s actions, because nobody would, that’s the point. Or if you don’t agree with a character's actions at one point, keep in mind that they probably have to go through character development and then we’ll see if they become better or worse.) This section is not about anything you don’t agree with, but something that you believe should/could be changed because it’s really bad/wrong/you hate it. Or that you think it should be written differently because most people would fling the book at the wall at this point.
3. What you didn’t understand. What was not clear, or needed more clarification. Just want to clarify something regarding the 'what you didn't understand' section, because I’ve had problems with it in the past, regarding betas. Don't put stuff that you're wondering about there. I ask 'what didn't you understand?' in the sense that, 'I don't get how they got from point A to B' or 'it's not clear how he got down the stairs. One minute he was on the second floor and on the next scene he's in the basement'. I'm looking for things that I've overlooked or forgotten to explain, any inconsistencies, any mistakes I may have forgotten to catch. If I conceal stuff in order to make the story more suspenseful, then I really don't want to explain them beforehand, so don’t tell me you didn’t understand why they are acting this way if it’s something that’s supposed to keep you in suspense (that will go in another section). Any inconsistencies or if you didn’t understand the setting or a description could go here as well.
4. What surprised you in a good or bad way. In this question I need you to tell me if there are any surprises that kept your interest, and made you go “whoa, didn’t expect that, let’s see what happens.” When I say in a good way, I mean about the story. I’m not asking if a good or bad thing happened, but if the surprise was good and strong plot-wise. If you were disappointed in the turn the events took, if they were underwhelming, I need to know that too.
5. What’s keeping you in suspense? What do you really want to happen/wonder if or what will happen? What kept your attention/interest? Why do you want to keep on reading? Were you bored at any point? (This is really important).
6. Any grammatical or other errors you noticed? For example, I got one character’s hair red in one paragraph and then blue in the next (that would be cool, btw lol) or a missing “and” and stuff like that. Just anything you notice would be infinitely helpful in the editing process, but don’t take much time over this part, as the thing will be edited within an inch of its life.
7. General thoughts while you read. Anything to add? Put it here!
Just put down your thoughts in a very informal way, I don’t care how you write them, as long as I get them. Just reply with an email, including answers to the 7points above for every chapter you received. I might email you back and forth with a few questions I might have, but if not, as soon as you send me the replies, I’ll send you the next batch. You can ask me anything, of course, and your answers don’t need to be overly long, just as long as they need to be in order for you to make your point! If anything you write is too short, don’t worry, I’ll ask you for more.
Please don’t reply with “I loved it” because that doesn’t help me at all. Why did you love it? What did you love? How did it make you feel? And so on…
In general, I need to know everything that passed through your head as you were reading, as well as what you took from the story in general (hopefully you took something from it lol).
IMPORTANT: (Although it goes without saying, and I trust you all.) This material is both copyrighted and confidential (aka TOP SECRET lols). Please do not share anything of what you read with your friends, or with anyone in general. Thank you!
[...] You have to be brutally honest, don't worry, you won't hurt my feelings ;) On the contrary you will be an AMAZING help in order to make this book baby the best it can be!
PS. I'll just be sitting here, dying.
If you are a beta reader, here is what you shouldn’t do (it’s a short list, so make sure you check all the points out):
Your replies can’t be short. “I loved it”, “it was AWESOME”, “that scene is problematic” and so on... One or two-line responses are absolutely no help. We, as authors, need you to explain WHY you loved, WHAT you loved, WHERE you thought the story needs work. Two-sentence replies are no help at all. This isn’t a review. This is commentary.
Abuse. I recently (sadly) had a beta reader threaten to murder (I kid you not) a character and two lines after that, she said she wanted to slap him, hard. Now this was thankfully the first time I had to deal with something so disrespectful, but I have heard other authors say that betas send them feeback like “this character is stupid” or even worse “your writing sucks”. It is absolutely unnacceptable. No one gets to be disrespectful and abusive to you or your characters, no matter how much they hate them (or you, for some reason). The beta reader’s comments need to be polite and specific. If they hate something, they need to explain calmly why, and state their opinion in a civilized manner. Their job is to help you and your book, and if that’s not where their head is at, then they shouldn’t be trusted with something so intimate and personal as your manuscript.
If you are a writer and one of your beta readers does one of the above things, you might want to consider dropping them. No one gets to abuse or disrespect you or your book. Not even a beta reader.
Time. This kind of goes without saying, but if a beta promises to send you their feedback and never delivers, or sends it to you days later, then that’s not going to work. We are all human, and not everything can happen on schedule, but you have to treat this as a professional. Ask them if they are going to be able to deliver within the deadline you have given, give or take a couple of days, and if they can’t, move on to the next. Beta reading is time sensitive, because the book has to be fresh in the reader’s mind in order to give feedback. Also, your carreer is time-sensitive, because you are (hopefully) on a publication schedule. So treat the process with professionalism, and the readers will too.
4. Where to find a good beta reader
If you are at the point to find beta readers, meaning you have finished, edited and polished your manuscript several times over, then you have already established an online presence. So, simple as anything, post a request for betas. Explain what your book is about, tell them how to contact you, and within what time period you would like your book read.
After that, email back and forth a few times, to see which ones of the applicants are trustworthy and a good fit for your book.
Readers are so sweet and helpful, it’s amazing. I still can’t wrap my head over how cool they are and how eager to help and built up your confidence and your book.
Also, if you have trouble finding enough beta readers, here is a place where you can choose from among about 500 readers.
That’s it! Was it helpful at all?
Don’t forget to ask me anything you want, as always, my ask box is open :)
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Lil writing update on Salt for Air:
I have officially finished editing, and my baby book is now in the hands of my trusted betas. So far, the feedback has been amazing:
Tried to blur out the spoilers, but yay!
I can’t wait to share the release day and official cover with you, as soon my super amazing betas give me the “ok”. Until then, here are some Greek mythology in modern Greece:
Read the previous Mermaid Diaries
Read the Robin Hood WIP Diaries
