When you read for an author, what do you offer? These eight considerations form a code of conduct that can help a writer and beta reader get the most from one another.
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
When you are asked to give constructive criticism to someone’s book draft, how do you respond? Do you shy away? Do you find excuses and say no? Do you skim and say, “Nice!” to politely get the author off your back? Perhaps being a beta reader is not for you.
Table of Contents:
• What makes for good feedback?
• Putting feedback from a beta reader to good use
• Eight things to consider when taking on the role of beta reader
1. Only read what you like
2. Ask the author what type of feedback they are looking for
3. Remember, the author is writing the book, not you
4. Give feedback in the form of a conversation
5. Present honest feedback in a constructive way
6. Take your time, or say you didn’t!
7. Learn to skim
8. Annotate
On the other hand, if given the chance to beta read a work in progress, do you grab it as an opportunity and read it as quickly as you can and give feedback that reflects the critical thinking you did? If so, perhaps you are an editor. Certainly, you are gold dust to an author.
What makes for good feedback?
As a writer, critical constructive feedback forces you to think. It can inspire you to improve and offer a way forward to progress as an author.
The worst kind of feedback is irrelevant, misguided, or lacking in substance. It is surprising there are people who will read an entire book and only return the comment, “I liked it.” Did they really read it? Are they afraid to tell the truth?
Perhaps even more frustrating are those who return a draft with the message, “I made lots of notes,” but have only managed to surface a few typos.
Serious writers want substantive, honest feedback. How did the writing make you feel? Was there a point where you wanted to put the book down? Which parts were most gripping? Did you have questions? Were there holes in the story? Would you change anything? How did it compare to other books you’ve read?
Putting feedback from a beta reader to good use
The trick to making the best use of feedback from a beta reader is to get a lot of it and not be overwhelmed by any one comment. It is best to look for themes that arise. Everyone will have an opinion, but if multiple beta readers have the same critical comment, it is something to take seriously.
The very best feedback is interactive. Readers who will make an initial round of comments and follow it up with a discussion are wonderful. The beta reader who will try to draw the story further out of a writer is invaluable.
What authors crave from readers is a litmus test of how their words are heard and interpreted. The best readers help to harmonize what the author intends and what is received. This is an invaluable role of a critique: to explore and resolve any dissonance between a writer’s intentions and a reader’s experiences.
Giving good feedback is an art. It takes effort and knowing what a writer wants and needs most.
Eight things to consider when taking on the role of beta reader
1. Only read what you like
Reading takes time and effort. You may feel obliged to read if a friend asks, but you should strive to give quality feedback. Some genres just don’t appeal to our personal tastes, and you might do a writer a disservice to attempt a critique of something you would be hard-pressed to read by choice. In other words, do not dig in if you are not enthusiastic.
2. Ask the author what type of feedback they are looking for
Before you take on the task of beta reader, ask what stage of the writing process the author is in and what type of feedback they want. If the author is still in the first-draft stage, hunting for grammatical errors and misspellings will be less important than feedback on story holes or inconsistent characters. If the author is about to submit and wants a final sanity check for typos, just do that and don’t dissect the work or suggest major changes.
3. Remember, the author is writing the book, not you
Every writer will have his own style, purpose, and abilities. There is a major difference between helping a writer achieve her personal best versus reworking the text into your own style. Don’t do the latter. Picking synonyms for words a writer has chosen and otherwise changing style, but not substance, is the last kind of feedback a writer will want.
4. Give feedback in the form of a conversation
Often the best feedback is posed in the form of a question. What did you mean here? Did you expect me to guess the killer is the butler at this point? In this way, you are pushing the writer along his own path instead of laying down a path of your own.
5. Present honest feedback in a constructive way
It is always easy to say you liked something and leave it at that. No one wants to disappoint someone with criticism, but you aren’t helping the writer by saying you liked something when you didn’t. Such feedback won’t help improve the work.
6. Take your time, or say you didn’t!
An author looking to improve his work wants substantive commentary from a beta reader. This includes accepting the feedback that you just couldn’t finish the book. If you had to put it down, this is valuable information. It could expose a major fail in pace or content to the writer, and while not positive, it will give the author a lot to think about — which is the point of your reading the manuscript in the first place.
7. Learn to skim
Can you quickly course over a document and get the gist? If an author just wants your impressions, can you quickly digest a longer piece just enough to give useful feedback? There is an art to this, and if you can master it, you’ll be an invaluable aide to the writer.
8. Annotate
You can give feedback verbally, in the form of an email, or as edits directly on the manuscript. All can be useful, but the best types of feedback include all three. An overview is given in the email. Questions and interactive discussion can be done verbally. Edits and comments on specific pieces of text are done best within the manuscript. Such annotations can be as detailed as you like and are often the most helpful when it comes to improving a draft.
Dawn Field (July 20, 1969 – May 2, 2020)
In late 2015, Dawn Field submitted a post to the BookBaby Blog. While many unsolicited submissions don’t quite meet the needs (or standards) of our readers, something about it stood out. I posted the article, and to my grateful amazement, that initial contribution flourished into a five-year collaboration resulting in over 100 posts published here. Sadly, on May 2nd, 2020, Dr. Field suddenly and tragically passed away at the age of 50. In an effort to bring some of her work back into the conversation, and with the permission of her family, we are re-publishing some of Dr. Field’s posts so a new generation of BookBaby Blog readers can experience and learn from her commitment to share what she was learning on her own journey as a writer.
I like much of what you said. I practice it.
An approach I use is to identify parts of the written work that work very well. This serves to say to the writer that this is a good piece of work. Then I note areas of concern or confusion. In a conversation with the writer when I find out what is intended I offer suggestions of how their goal can be ac heaved.
Like taking a class and actually coming away with something very useful. Plain advice and plenty of it. Thanks.
Authors should give the beta reader a questionnaire to guide the feedback. A true beta reader is not a professional. They are an average reader of your genre. Beta readers are reluctant at best and terrified at the worst because they have no idea what you want from them. It is not the beta readers responsibility to know what the writer needs.