Lighting the Path: Getting the Best from Your Beta Readers

By Heidi Croot

They’ll respond with a quick “yes” because they’ll want to please you.

Then the inevitable panic will bloom in their eyes. A vigorous throat clearing across the phone line. A dust-up of confusion in their email.

“Um, what is a beta reader supposed to do exactly?”

Of the eighteen people I asked to test-read my memoir manuscript—fellow writers, psychotherapists, friends, and family members (including my aunts and uncle who appear frequently in its pages…read about th...