How experienced novelists can use beta readers in the editing process

February 25, 2022 Kristen Tate

I’m always looking for ways to streamline the editing process for my indie author clients. If you’ve chosen to self-publish, you are likely someone who enjoys having a lot of control over your creative process. From a business standpoint, editing costs are likely the single biggest expense for each book. Replacing formal content editing with beta reading can allow experienced authors to control the kind of feedback they get, as well as free up funds to devote to advertising or other needs. (I still advise all authors to invest in professional copyediting, however!)

This winter, I had the opportunity to be a beta reader for established indie author Jane Steen, commenting on Lady Odelia’s Secret, the second book in her wonderful Scott-De Quincy mystery series. In this post I’ll detail what the experience is like from a beta reader’s perspective and provide some tips for how to use beta readers if you want to try it for yourself. At the end of the post, Jane answers some questions that will give you additional guidance and advice.

What’s it like to be a beta reader?

I’ll start by describing the process and my experience because if you can put yourself in the reader’s shoes, you’ll have an easier time building and managing a team of readers who can give you effective advice—and that’s the whole point!

I’d heard of Jane’s first book—The House of Closed Doors, which has amassed an impressive 6,000+ positive reviews on the US Amazon store—but hadn’t read any of her work until I saw her on a panel at the Historical Novel Society Conference. I signed up for her mailing list, which is where I saw her announcement that she was adding new beta readers to her team for her upcoming novel. I filled out her form and, once I was accepted onto the team, I read Lady Helena Investigates, the first book in the series, to make sure I was up to speed.

Two takeaways here:

Author conferences are great for networking and learning, but can also be a place to find new readers.
Having access to a pool of possible beta readers is just another of the many, many reasons to start and cultivate a newsletter audience as soon as possible.

Leading up to the beta read, Jane communicated her timelines and expectations clearly, always closing her messages with gratitude for our work. Jane ran the beta read on the BetaBooks platform, which allows readers to read and comment within a web browser, either on computer or mobile. (I generally used my iPhone or iPad during the beta read and found the interface easy to navigate.) Readers get email notifications when new chapters or feedback is posted on the platform.

Jane released three chapters a day, every weekday over the course of five weeks, giving readers a chance to catch up over weekends if needed, though she encouraged us to read and comment every day if we could. Readers who fell too far behind (like me in week 1!) were (gently and apologetically) warned they could be dropped from the team.

One of the best aspects of the BetaBooks platform, in my opinion, was that I only saw other readers’ feedback after I’d submitted my own. I generally read and commented on my three daily chapters and then went back and explored other readers’ comments and conversations. This back and forth was an unexpected delight for me as a reader. Readers had side conversations about books they loved and hated or (for the American readers) what pies we were baking for Thanksgiving.

At surprise twists, it was an immense pleasure to see other readers enjoying the ride—a bit like being part of an enthusiastic audience for a favorite musical act. Seeing the pleasure of others heightens your own.

Seeing where other readers were confused or had reactions different from my own was illuminating, too, from a writing craft standpoint. We all bring different experiences and expectations to a story, and those play into our reactions. I think this is a prime benefit of working with beta readers. Editors are trained and skilled readers, but they are still just one person, with their own quirks and blind spots. (We try hard to be alert to those, but self-awareness can take you only so far.) Working with a group of readers will show you areas of consensus and disagreement.

Jane was a very active responder, and I would often go back to previous chapters to review the comments and read what she had to say. Often she would fill in historical or story details for us that didn’t need to make their way into the book but that were fascinating nonetheless. Sometimes she would mull over possible revision paths for a chapter that readers seemed to agree wasn’t as successful or engaging as it could be. She frequently commented on how various aspects of the story had evolved during the writing process.

What do you need to consider before you use beta readers?

First, make sure that you have the time and psychological bandwidth to manage the process and evaluate the feedback you get. If you have more money than time, getting targeted feedback from a professional editor will be more streamlined than working with beta readers. If you are a first-time novelist, professional feedback might also be a better choice because most beta readers will be able to tell you when something isn’t working but not necessarily why or how to fix it.

Second, be clear about your goals. What kind of feedback are you looking for? What kind of feedback isn’t as useful for you? What qualities are you looking for in your beta readers? Writing these things out for yourself will give you principles to draw on and will shape your communications to your readers. (Read my previous posts on questions for beta readers and how to be a good beta reader for more on this topic.)

Third, plan out your process in detail before you begin. Details to consider:

Will you use a platform to manage the process and, if so, which one? I think highly of BetaBooks now that I’ve used the platform, and I also liked what I heard from the founders when I met them at the 2020 San Francisco Writers Conference, but there are other options out there, including simply exchanging material and comments over email.
How many beta readers do you want to have and how will you recruit them?
What’s your timeline? How much time do you need to allow for reading, and then how much time do you want to devote to revising after you receive feedback? How much time do you need to set aside to manage the process and provide feedback?
What do you want to communicate to your readers and what processes do you need to have in place? How will you ensure confidentiality and combat potential piracy? How will you ensure that readers behave like good online citizens in their interactions with one another and you? How will you keep them on schedule?
What rewards will readers receive? A free ebook? Mention in the acknowledgments?

Fourth, remember that your beta readers are likely your super-fans. They are participating in the process because they value and enjoy your work, but also because they want behind-the-scenes access to you! Respond to as many comments as possible and look for opportunities to explain your process or thinking or research. Your beta readers will feel like they are getting inside information unavailable to regular readers.

Fifth, don’t be defensive about criticism, though you can explain your thinking if you choose. I find that authors often need time to process content feedback before deciding to accept advice. Know that your first reaction might be to reject feedback and remember that you ultimately have creative control. Look for the underlying reasons for the feedback and look for patterns of responses to help you decide whether or not to address it.

Finally, try to enjoy the process! You are creating a temporary community of readers who are drawn to your words and ideas. Take joy in the fact that you have created the cozy campfire at the heart of this little community, and enjoy the time you spend telling your tale and seeing your listeners’ reactions in near-live time.

Interview with Jane Steen

When did working with beta readers become part of your editing process and why did you make that choice?

I was lucky enough to have friends (some from my writers’ group) who beta read my novels to some degree or the other right from the beginning. I found it a little frustrating, though, trying to coordinate the varied comments from a number of returned Word documents—and sometimes I didn’t get the feedback for a very long time (I’m guilty of that right now, late on reading a friend’s work because I’ve been so busy with the launch of Lady Odelia’s Secret). Eventually I tried BetaBooks (at the time a free service as it was itself in beta) so I could have all the comments in the same place. My friends didn’t want to use BetaBooks as they were used to receiving the file, so for a while I did both, but BetaBooks won out. At first I found there were people who signed up for the beta read, read the file but didn’t comment, or just left a “that was great” comment at the end—not helpful! Also, as time went on I began to get worried about people keeping the manuscript confidential, so I developed various strategies to ensure I had readers who would play fair with both me and the other readers.

I didn’t understand quite how much work it could be to set up and manage the beta-reading process until I watched you run one. I imagine using the BetaBooks platform helps streamline the process. What other tools do you use to manage the process? Do you have an author assistant who helps behind the scenes? How much time do you devote to responding to feedback as it comes in?

I run the beta reads myself. I believe my readers deserve that, because it’s access to the author that really lights their fire. The BetaBooks dashboard makes managing the process easy—the only other thing I do is set up a group in MailerLite to send readers the initial emails, but even that’s not absolutely necessary.

I spend AGES responding to feedback. The beta read basically eats my life, which is another reason to contain it within strict time limits. Each comment or reply comes in as a separate email with a link back to the app, where you leave your response. I usually spend a good hour in the morning responding to the early emails, have a slight lull to get on with other work around lunchtime, and then deal with the onslaught of emails from American betas, the largest group, in the afternoon and evening (I live in the UK). I fit my other work in between the emails, so it has to be routine stuff. There’s no time for writing, and honestly I just don’t have the mental energy after all the beta read emails.

You get quite a lot of feedback on each chapter, some of it ranging from big-picture things like reactions to major plot points and some of it very small, like objections to semicolons or questions about specific historical details. How do you organize this feedback when it comes time to revise?

I simply read through the chapter, then read through the comments and look for the places they’re talking about, then make small changes immediately and leave notes for myself about bigger changes I want to mull over. I find that once I’ve read through all the comments I’m pretty clear in my mind about what needs to be done. I’m definitely more receptive to beta comments after I’ve taken a break at the end of the beta read, to give myself a little distance. I encourage my betas to be rough with me, but I always end up feeling a little bruised from so much criticism (that’s human nature, however thick you think your skin is) and need a little time to heal and get perspective. Then I find myself agreeing with about 90 percent of the comments!

You also ran an alpha round for Lady Odelia’s Secret. How does that round work differently from the beta round?

The alpha read was by invitation, and in future I’ll probably cherry pick the alpha readers, looking for readers who see the big picture rather than the small details. At this point I just want to know if the story’s working or not—I’m going to rewrite it anyway. So the process is more like an old-style beta read, where the readers get the whole story, respond to the bits that move them, and give me their verdict at the end.

What advice do you have for authors who want to work with beta readers? At what stage in their writing career should they be? What’s the best way to start and what do they need to be prepared for?

You can have beta readers at any point in your career, but you’ve got to be ready to listen to criticism. If you find it hard to be in a writers’ group, for example, you might not be ready for a beta read. It certainly helps to have a mailing list, but you could also recruit from among friends who read a lot. You definitely want avid readers as they have an instinctive grasp of story. They don’t have to be the most educated or articulate people in the world, either—that doesn’t necessarily mean they are good at understanding tropes or spotting flaws in a plot. So, for example, you might find betas in an online readers’ group where you notice that some people really get into discussing stories. Remember, they’re beta readers not unpaid editors—you still need a pro editor to help make the final product consistent internally and with your other books.

You ask potential beta readers to fill out a form to join the team. What qualities are you looking for and what red flags are you trying to avoid?

First and foremost, I need to know that these are genuine readers and not somebody looking to rip off my work. Every read I’ve done, there are applicants that just come over as plain wrong, as not being who they say they are. It’s the same instinct that stops you from being hacked on Facebook, for example. You can tell who’s genuine. My assistant helps me with this, weeding out the obvious nos and presenting me with a shortlist and her opinion on each reader; she may need to email them to ask questions depending on our discussion.

Then I keep an eagle eye on new readers at the start of each read, noting any anomalies in their behavior. It’s an anxious time—I’m looking forward to having built up a pool of trusted readers so I don’t have to recruit very often! Some writers like a huge number of beta readers, on the principle that the more you have, the more mistakes they’ll spot, but I prefer to work intensively with fewer readers so I stick with the BetaBooks plan that lets you have up to 20 readers.

What are your favorite things about the beta reading process, and what are the parts that are less fun?

The less fun part is the mental exhaustion, but I actually love the beta read. Even when exchanges of views get a bit brisk, I enjoy the process and find myself regarding my readers as a group of close friends. The only bit I’m really uncomfortable with is dealing with readers who don’t think the rules apply to them, or who get upset and start emailing me directly behind the scenes. But that’s part of a beta read, and I try really hard to stay calm and polite and appreciative of their contributions.

This question is more broadly about writing craft and less about beta reading: As came up during the beta read, your books are mysteries, but they are also family sagas, so they don’t always follow typical mystery conventions. Is that what led you into self-publishing, so you could have creative control over your books, or were there other reasons?

Yes, definitely, creative control was a huge factor in deciding to go indie. I know I don’t write books that fit neatly into the “rules” of a genre (and I factor that into my sales expectations; writing to market is undoubtedly the best way to make big money fast) but I write the sort of mysteries I enjoy the most, the ones where the individual mystery is just part of an overarching story, where the mystery helps the protagonists discover something important about themselves. There are a host of other reasons for being an indie, including retaining my rights in my own intellectual property, not being constrained by a publisher’s timeline or internal rules, being the boss instead of the worker bee, building a direct connection with readers, and being part of an amazingly vibrant and supportive community. June 2022 will mark the 10th anniversary of the day I hit “Publish” on my first book, and I still have absolutely no desire to pursue a traditional publishing career. I may never win a big prize or be a NYT bestselling author or see stacks of my books in a bookstore window or piled up high in a big box store (all of these achievements are very difficult for indies just because of the nature of the industry) but I have happiness in what I do and a reasonably regular income, and I write the books I want to write. I don’t ask for more than that!

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