6 Tips for Finding Your Perfect Beta Readers

You wrote a novel! Now what? NaNoWriMo’s “Now What?” Months are here—this January and February, we’ll be helping you guide your novel through the revision and publishing process. Today, editorial consultant and professional beta reader  Jody T. Morse  shares her guidelines for finding the perfect betas:

Regardless of how you plan to publish your novel—indie, small press, or big-six publisher—there’s one step that all writers should incorporate into their writing routine: beta readers. These fresh-eyed feedback folks can be priceless at sniffing out the plot holes, speed bumps, and detouring tangents in a manuscript. Here are my top six tips for finding beta readers and utilizing them to the nth degree:

1. Know where to find your betas.

While betas can be found anywhere there are literate citizens, your genre and subject matter will dictate where you’ll find your ideal catch. If you’re writing a story centered around a prison break, consider staff at a local jail or former (hopefully reformed) inmates. Your YA romance might best be read by one of your old high-school teachers or those teens you pass every day on your jog, texting on a park bench. You want betas who want to read stories like yours. If you go for a pro, checking with reputable editors, published authors, or writers’ guilds can be helpful to your search.

2. Know your reader avatar.

Once you’ve decided on the target demographic for your book, you have the key to selecting your optimal beta readers. Asking your neighbor’s third grader to give you feedback on a psychological thriller rampant with innuendo and gory murders makes no sense at all. Turning to a Dan Brown fan or Stephen King-o-phile would be a better beta fit. An additional strategy is to seek out readers for insight into controversial character details or themes, ones you’ve researched but not lived through. A nun may not be your ideal avatar, but she may be able to tell you where you’ll lose Christian readers in your retelling of Jonah and the Whale: Jaws v. Jesus.

3. Ask for what you need.

Don’t be afraid to give your betas a checklist, template, or list of questions to help guide them on the feedback you’re most in need of. As a professional beta reader, I have a feedback form I use that includes basics like plot, structure, flow, word choice, voice, setting, etc. Then I customize this sheet, as needed. Make your own or look online for samples.

4. Give a deadline.

Professionals should set a deadline in the initial contract, but even if you’ve decided to go with betas that are reading for pizza and beer, giving them a due date is imperative. In fact, I suggest asking them up front if they can realistically achieve a full read-through–which means written suggestions and/or chatting with you about the story–within the time frame your publishing schedule requires.

5. Figure out how many you’ll need.

There’s no right or wrong answer on this one. If paying professionals, you can plan on one or two. When using non-pros, you might want to wrangle a few more. But be wary of too many initial readers; you could get bogged down with a tsunami of feedback, discover you’ve become overwhelmed, wave the white flag, and jump ship.

6. Know when to use them.

You’ll want to employ these fishy feedback fiends after you’ve done the major rewrites and light line edits but before you get to work on serious copy edits. No sense editing passages that may end up on the cutting room floor. However, you’d also hate to lose the attention of a good beta reader due to rampant misspellings, chapters out of sequence, or grammar gremlins.

Remember, you’re the alpha writer. Now get out there and find your betas!

Jody T. Morse is a freelance writer, editorial consultant and professional beta reader. She loves playing the field with writing, from coffee table mag articles to spec fiction blogs to haiku poetry. She’s currently editing the first book of her fantasy novel series, Feathers of the Phoenix (written during NaNo 2016), and is putting the finishing touches on an interview article featuring the Mayor of Houston. For more information about Jody, visit www.bountifulbalconybooks.com, her NaNoWriMo profile, or her Amazon author page.

Top photo by Flickr user duluoz cats.