• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

John Champaign Writes

Adventures in Self Publishing

Beta Readers

February 10, 2021 by John Champaign Leave a Comment

I recently published what I consider my debut novella, “Merchant Magician”. As part of the process, I had a number of beta readers provide feedback on it. Overall, it was mixed experience.

What is a Beta Reader?

A beta reader is someone who reads your about-to-be-published work and gives you feedback from a reader’s perspective. They ARE NOT a collaborator, development editor, line editor, or proof reader. Instead they tell you what parts they liked or disliked, how they felt about characters and any plot holes or issues they saw as a reader.

This feedback gives the writer a final chance to make fixes to their publication before it “goes to press”.

Important Caveat

Before discussing the benefits to me as a writer, it’s important to point out that agreeing to be a beta reader is an incredibly generous act. Everyone who gave me any feedback took time out of their busy lives to fight their way through my work-in-progress and then spent time writing up feedback. When it didn’t work out well, the fault was mine.

I’ve thanked all my beta readers personally and I remain in their debt. I would be heart broken if any of them read this and took it as a slight against the feedback they provided. It’s not, I remain very grateful to you all!

My Experience, the Good

The good was that beta readers can point out issues that, if something comes up repeatedly, are probably worth rethinking. Any problems you can fix before you publish you clearly should, so it’s very helpful to get any eyes on it you can. I made changes based on beta-reader feedback, so it was definitely worth doing.

Different readers, of course, had different reactions to the work. A section that one reader said was the weakest part, might be another reader’s favorite. The first lesson I had about beta reading was to NOT view feedback as a list of changes to make, but instead to use it IN THE AGGREGATE to identify areas that might need more work. If something was only mentioned once, by a single beta reader, unless it hits you like a bolt of lightning that they’re absolutely and unquestionably right, you should probably ignore it.

In “Merchant Magician”, I never name or describe the protagonist. This was intentional on my part, to make him more universal, but also as part of the inherent intimacy of the first person narrative that I’d used. Three beta readers noticed and objected to this, while far more than three never commented on it. Although it bothered those three readers, I considered the experiment a success and that I’d “gotten away with it”.

My Experience, the Bad

The biggest issue I found is when the reader just isn’t a fan of your genre or the type of writing you’re doing.

What would *REALLY* improve this Regency romance is if the main character was a Wookie and if it was a space opera instead of a Regency romance…

If the person isn’t your target reader, you have to then tease out whether their feedback is about your writing versus their reading preferences. You want to make absolutely sure that they’re the exact type of person who would read your book. This is close to impossible if it’s your first book. I imagine the ideal situation would be to recruit beta readers for a series from fans of the previously published books in that same series. The second best option would be to recruit fans from your past works that are similar to what you’re currently writing. If you don’t have either of these, I think a case could be made for avoiding beta readers completely.

Fellow Writers as Beta Readers

Other writers naturally think about how they would write things, which isn’t what you want from a beta-reader. I’ve found you want answers to questions in the form of “what did you like? what did you dislike? What parts were exciting? What parts were boring?” Writers will tend to brainstorm new scenes and characters for you, thinking about how they would write the book.

Remember: when people tell you something’s wrong or doesn’t work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong.

― Neil Gaiman

I’ve found this is a general problem with feedback. I’ve designed board games in the past, and when I’d try to get feedback from friends who enjoy board games, they wanted to brainstorm ways to expand my design. Regardless of how many times I asked them to identify what was fun or not fun, they kept wanting to talk about the “awesome mechanic” they’d add.

Rather than give me feedback as a potential consumer, they wanted to be my co-creator.

Beta Readers as a Focus Group

More than anything, I’ve found you need to think of your beta readers like focus group participants and be very careful what information you solicit from them and how you use that information.

D.E. Haggerty had a delightful (and informative) post “Why I don’t use beta readers.” In addition to having lost a friend over a bad beta reading experience (ouch!), she found that people either ignored her feedback document and gave her unusable feedback, or they followed it and found it so much work they refused to ever do it again. If you properly treat beta readers like a focus group, it’s likely that they’ll find it an especially demanding experience.

Never Argue With a Beta Reader

It should go without saying, but you should never, ever, ever argue with a beta reader’s feedback. It’s their reaction to the writing, so by definition they can’t be wrong.

At best, you’ll make it far less likely that they’ll beta read for you or anyone ever again. Additionally, you’re likely making them less likely to give honest feedback to people in the future. Finally, you might end a friendship.

Will I Use Beta Readers in the Future?

Maybe. If I have contact with people who I am very certain fit the exact type of reader who would buy the book, yes. If not, no.

Related

Filed Under: Self Publishing

Reader Interactions

Leave a ReplyCancel reply

Primary Sidebar

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 498 other subscribers

RECENT BLOG POSTS

  • Traveler’s Legacy Released
  • Shattered Dimensions Released
  • Expecting Friends And Family To Be Your Audience
  • Other Writers Are Our Colleagues, Not Competition Or Customers
  • Recording An Audiobook With A Narrator

Categories

  • Academic Advice
  • Board games
  • Business
  • Chickens
  • Game Development
  • Real Estate
  • Role Playing
  • Self Publishing
  • Writing Ideas

Archives

  • March 2025
  • December 2024
  • November 2024
  • October 2024
  • September 2024
  • August 2024
  • June 2024
  • May 2024
  • April 2024
  • March 2024
  • February 2024
  • January 2024
  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • October 2023
  • August 2023
  • July 2023
  • June 2023
  • May 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • October 2020
  • August 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020

Recent Comments

  • Intelligent Human Being. on The Problem With Online Discussion Forums
  • John Champaign on GameMaker Snakes and Ladders Tutorial
  • ZorgAlmighty on GameMaker Snakes and Ladders Tutorial
  • John Champaign on Other Writers Are Our Colleagues, Not Competition Or Customers
  • John Champaign on Block Fast, Mute Often

Copyright © 2025 · News Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in