BetaReader.io

[Jonas]

It's an awesome reader and feedback management platform.

1) Secure manuscript sharing
2) Beautiful inline feedback and reactions
3) Analyze reading patterns to see what works and what doesn't

https://link.medium.com/CJCgX423PS

https://betareader.io

[R.M.]

Is there a fee for this?

[J]

So I want to give a quick unbiased shout out to betareader.io. I've been on it for a few weeks. Overall, I dig it. It's a nice easy way for me to beta read and monitor readers that pick up my book - which always feels nice :)

Pros:

It's free

Easy to use

You can put survey questions in after each chapter (if you want), super helpful

You can get notifications when someone opens your book
You can contact your readers via email

The commenting system is nice, but it is universal (I believe everyone sees everyone's comments). Love the simple 'thumbs up'

The reader is super handy and easy to navigate. Way easier than google docs, word or .pdf in my opinion (although I prefer Word for commenting across the board)

Cons:

The app is a bit buggy (but it's fine in web)

As the library grows, it's going to be harder to find stuff until they get the filters working, but right now it's not too bad. HOWEVER - The developers are VERY open to suggestions and have responded to every question I've had - which is awesome.

I wish there was a way to contact the authors directly, but understand why there is not.

There seems to be a weird, unspoken swap rule (this has nothing to do with the developers - purely a user thing). Someone adds your book to their library, but might not actually start reading until you've added theirs to your library. Which is fine - but I add anything that looks interesting and won't read someone's work if I know I'm a poor fit so the swap fishing doesn't always work out.

I think how to comment might confuse some folks or not work on certain platforms. I've only had about half my readers comment, though the system says they all finished the content. One of my readers said they couldn't comment in text, but could fill out the form at the end of the chapter, so it all worked out. Again, the developers are great so I'm sure they could clear up any issue.

[Jonas]

Thanks for this wonderful feedback! It's a work in progress, so any bugs you spot, ping us on hello@betareader.io, and we'll get down to fix it!

And it's actually not universal, that's part of the beauty with it: only the author sees each reader's comments/feedback/how far they've reached. This way, one reader's feedback won't taint another one's mind 🙂

Happy writing and reading!

[GREYSON]

I can confirm that they do actually listen to people’s suggestions and will actually implement so said suggestions. It’s nice to know that they have a development group that actually listens.

[Jennifer]

I am not a fan of the website. It is to hard to work with as a beta reader. I prefer betabooks.com