Donna Maree Hanson, Author, Phd in Creative Writing

What is a beta reader? A beta reader is a first reader, someone who looks at a novel in progress, either at the early stages, the mid-stages or the late stages.

Beta readers read for free. Sometimes in exchange they will be offered return beta reading by the other author. Where payment is involved, this is usually a manuscript appraisal, which can be expensive and is more formal. Some writers do seek this service to help them develop their novel.

As a writer I have used beta readers for my manuscripts and been a beta reader for a number of authors. With my commencement of editing studies, I thought there were some parallel elements to what an editor does. An editor may read through a manuscript and provide critique and analysis, where they are looking to provide structural and copy edit type feedback.

The usefulness of beta readers are many fold and depending on the author and the reader can reveal a range of useful information for both parties. As a writer getting feedback on how the plot stands up, how the characters are working and the like is extremely valuable. So too, is getting feedback on what is not working. It is not a good use of a beta reader to seek to win praise, because that’s not going to help your work. Praise is nice of course, but you are really looking to see how a critical reader will react to the story. I’ve had beta readers provide very little feedback, saying only that they like it. It really isn’t any use asking these people to read again because there’s no learning involved.

As a beta reader, I find the process teaches me a whole lot about writing, and about the issues that a writer can face when writing a complex story. I also gain satisfaction from helping a friend. I have some talented friends.

Some writers have formal critiquing networks and this is also very interesting to examine as part of this series of blog interviews.

So the first interview is from Gillian Polack whose novel Life Through Cellophane has been picked up for reprint by Momentum Books. Her website is here.

Thank you Gillian for responding so quickly to my interview questions.

1. How many beta readers do you have and how long have you used beta readers in your writing process?
I’ve used beta readers since the CSFG novel critiquing circle took a look at Life through Cellophane. I don’t have a set number or a set process. Sometimes I ask for volunteers if I have specific problems with a novel and sometimes I run a story past a critiquing circle and sometimes I will ask someone particular to have a look and get a handle on where I am.

2. In what ways do beta readers assist you in developing your novel for publication?
The biggest assistance they’ve been is in helping me define my audience and what kind of book it is. I don’t write bang in the centre of genre, and it really makes a difference in explaining to a publisher “This is alternate world steampunk” or “Domestic horror with added chocolate” if I know what readers think. The beta readers also help me improve the internal balance of the novel – if they go to sleep, I know I’m in big trouble.

3. Do all your beta readers pick up the same points?
No two beta readers have ever picked up the same points on anything major. One will focus on the lack of romantic interest and another will wonder if I checked the history (poor soul, they didn’t know what hit them when I cited sources for an hour) and another will pick on the opening and point out (completely correctly) that it doesn’t quite fit the rest of it. One reader will say that the novel would be better if I dumped strand A of the plot and another will say “No, strand A is perfect – she should dump strand B.” What I get from all of this is a sense of how readers actually interact with my work, which helps me sense how it’s doing what it’s doing.

4. Do you sometimes target your beta readers to particular areas based on the experience you had with them in the past? For example, one reader is good at plot holes, another reader is good at grammatical issues and another might be good at style. Or do you take what comes?
I have one friend who beta reads for the complexities – she has a wonderfully convoluted brain and she makes very telling comments when the various layers in the text aren’t equal or balanced. I have had beta readers who check for grammar, but they tend to be frustrated. I make errors (everyone does) but quite often my grammatical errors are intentional, especially incomplete sentences. I don’t need to turn incomplete sentences into complete sentences, for the most part: I need to decide if they belong at all. They’re a part of my style and I tend to overdo them. Speaking of style, the best style editors I’ve ever had have been my editors – they have picked up on things that my beta readers missed. Still, when someone makes good comments along any of these lines (especially concerning plot holes!) it makes me very happy.

5. Do you always want the same thing from the beta reader for each novel? For example, when you have deadlines and only have time for high-level feedback?
I’ve been very lucky with deadlines. No, not lucky. I’ve set up a pattern whereby I have a lot of time to revise and rethink. I know that this pattern of work won’t endure forever, but while it lasts I’m making the most of it and learning as much as I can from the comments of others. This means that I have the luxury of choosing whether to seek beta readers for a particular volume and when to seek them.
Since each of my novels is rather different from the previous in many ways, I ask beta readers to look for different things. One I just asked to read a novel to see if it was tolerable for a male reader and if it made sense.

6. How hard is it to find a good beta reader?

I have so much trouble answering this. Sometimes they’re lined up, wanting to read my manuscript and sometimes I manage without them, for they are not to be found. It’s hard to find someone who understands what I need to hear about the book, and that it’s not the same as what a reviewer explains to a potential market. When I find that person, I am grateful, for their words can be golden.

7. Do you have any advice for readers who want to be beta readers or even editors in the long run? For example, what type of commentary to you prefer?

Learn how to look at a manuscript to see what it can be. Once you can see what that particular writer is capable of, with that specific story, then seeing the ways the writer can bring it into being isn’t that hard. A lot of people see the story as they want it to be, not the best it can be within itself. Comments that tell me how more appearances of this character would be gratefully accepted help because yes, it’s good to know that the character works, but they don’t help nearly as much as knowing that the subordinate story is woefully underdeveloped and lacking in the lovely complexity that makes the main story so good. Telling me that my grammar sucks doesn’t help unless you give examples and even then, you’d better be very careful that you’re right. I’ve been told off for non-existent grammatical errors and I’ve also been told off for using words that don’t exist, which only demonstrated (when I check, which I tend to) that I knew more grammar and had a wider vocabulary than that beta reader.

The best beta reader of all is a reality check on my telling of a story. They don’t need to know the technical reason why something doesn’t work (although an editor really does need to know – this is a big difference between the two) but if they can explain where it doesn’t work and how for them it has failed, I can work out the reason. In other words, complete and honest (and hopefully tactful) comments are very, very handy.

Gillian, thank you very much for an interesting start to this series of blog posts on beta reading. As I have a number of these on hand, I’m sure this will be an interesting series.

Donna

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