On Mining Good Beta Readers

James Scott Bell joins us today for the “Now What?” months, during which we edit, revise and seek to publish our NaNo-novels! The bestselling writing coach and author tell us about how to find and treasure great beta readers:

Good beta readers are gold. You must dig for them, and take care of them once they are found. A good beta reader will be someone who gives you specific feedback on your novel. You want to ask them for an overview the length of at least half a page, and then for any specific things that jump out at them.

What is well-intentioned but can be less helpful is: “I loved this! Can’t wait to see it published. Let me know when it is!” To find beta readers, make up a list of all the people you know who might be able to offer you this feedback. Where do you find such people?

First of all, in your own circle. Another way is to attend a really good writer’s conference, and make sure that you network with other writers there. [ED NOTE: Or, of course, you can always search out fellow writers who would be great readers for you on the NaNoWriMo forums!]

Then email the list via blind copies asking if they would be interested in being pre-readers for your novel. Tell them that you would like to list them in the acknowledgements. Give them a preferred turnaround time (e.g., a month). 

Send out your manuscript. 
Get back the replies.
Go through the replies, and thank each person by email or a mailed note.
Pinpoint the most useful responses and ask those beta readers if they would be willing to read future drafts. You can mentally label these your “gold list”.
The next time you need a reader, get in touch with those folks, and perhaps add a few new names to the batch.
Make a master document of all the suggestions and go through them, making changes in your manuscript (or not… the final decision is yours).

I will say, here, that learning your craft should be an ongoing process. Don’t ever stop. Does a brain surgeon stop reading medical journals or going to conferences? If he did, would you want him poking around in your gray matter? Be the same way. Make learning a passion. Here’s a word from the New Year: your work is just beginning.

It’s a good word. Because you’re going to take what you have and make it better. That’s the very cool thing about revision. You let your wild writer’s mind go free in November. Now you settle it down with a dose of reality and an editor’s hat.

You assess. You think. You analyze. You edit. And then, after you edit, you turn it over to others to get feedback.

Now what do you have? 

A better book than what you had at the end of November.  Guaranteed.

Now get to work on the next one.

James Scott Bell is a bestselling writing coach, author of Plot & Structure, Revision & Self-Editing for Publication, The Art of War for Writers, Conflict & Suspense and Writing Fiction for All You’re Worth. He is also a bestselling thriller writer and former fiction columnist for Writer’s Digest magazine. 

Author photo courtesy of jamesscottbell.com. Top photo by Flickr user kryptonic83.