The 5 most common questions regarding beta readers:
In short: no, but yes. 😂 Some authors don't go through this process at all and that totally works for them. But I can't stress enough how valuable it is to have other eyes on your story before publishing. So if don't do a beta reading group i think that it's extra important that you have an editor and maybe a couple critique partners that you trust to look it over. We get too close to our own work to see it clearly. There is nothing wrong with needing help. 🙂
I don't have personal experience with getting their feedback quite yet, but I think that the process is going to be valuable. Especially since I have other authors and readers with opinions that I really value on my team.❤️
𝟐. 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝?
Some "experts" recommend a big sample size for the fact that it's easier to determine when feedback is just a personal opinion VS. a trend the more readers you have. However, I don't personally believe this is necessary. I think a small team of people you trust is just as valuable. I personally started with a list of 20 just because I was blessed with that many volunteers, but I don't expect that many people to go through with it or stay until the end. (Always start with more people than you actually want haha)
𝟑. 𝗪𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦?
Instagram! Most of my readers are relationships that I've formed through being apart of this community. ❤️😁 Some are fellow indie authors that I love, and some are bookstagrammers that share reviews I appreciate. I am so grateful that they've offered to help me.❤️ A few are people I know personally, but they are either people I am not so close with that they won't want to be honest, or are so close that they won't be afraid to be honest haha. That's important!
𝟒. 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤?
Whatever you are looking for from your readers it's important that you are upfront with them about it so that they know. They can't effectively help you if they don't know what you need. Before starting I've emailed my readers to outline what the process will be like, the deadline I have, and I've asked my them to give me feedback on the reading experience with my story specifically; plot, characters, pacing and such.
𝟓. 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤?
I will be sending my manuscript in sections of around 50 pages. After each section my readers will have to fill out a questionnaire of around 10 questions to give me their feedback. Some questions will be more open ended like "What are your impressions?" But others might be more specific to the section. I compiled my list of questions by watching @authorbethanyatazadeh and @jennamoreci videos on beta reading. They were super helpful.
They also helped me to develop this structure for the process.
I'll be happy to talk about this again when I've gone through the whole process and can talk about gathering feedback and applying it too!
I know this was far too long 🙈 but I hope it was helpful too ❤️
