The best beta readers are familiar with your genre and enjoy reading it regularly. They know the pacing, the tropes, and the expectations that make a story satisfying in that particular genre. If you're writing a cozy mystery, a reader who loves fast-paced thrillers might say that your cozy mystery is too slow, right? But that doesn't mean that your story is weak or broken. It means the feedback is coming from somebody who is outside your target audience or who typically reads outside of your genre. Welcome to the Fiction Writing Made Easy podcast. My name is Savannah Gilbo, and I'm here to help you write a story that works. I want to prove to you that writing a novel doesn't have to be overwhelming. So each week I'll bring you a brand new episode with simple, actionable, and step-by-step strategies that you can implement in your writing right away. So whether you're brand new to writing or more of a seasoned author looking to improve your craft, this podcast is for you. So pick up a pen and let's get started. In today's episode, we're talking about beta readers, specifically what they are, why they matter, where to find the right ones, and how to use their feedback without losing your sense of direction. And I wanted to tackle this topic today because finishing your first draft is a huge milestone. It takes time, commitment, and a lot of courage to get your story from start to finish. But when most writers reach this point, they look at the pages in front of them and they feel a mixture of emotions. On one hand, they're really proud of themselves for getting to the end, and on the other hand, they're really overwhelmed and confused because what comes next isn't always clear. But this is where beta readers come in, and they're a huge help in bridging the gap between your first draft and a story that's ready for the world. So let's just dive right in, starting with what beta readers are, just to make sure we're all on the same page. Beta readers are everyday readers who agree to read your entire manuscript and share their honest experience before your book is ready to publish. Think about it like a movie studio testing a film before its release. They want to know if the jokes land, if the pacing feels right, and if the ending is satisfying. And beta readers do the same thing for your story. They'll share what they felt as readers, they'll point out where they got confused, where they got bored, where they felt really excited or drawn in, and essentially tell you what's working and what isn't working. So that's what beta readers do. But here's what beta readers don't do. They're not there to fix your grammar or your typos because that's a proofreader's job. They're not going to rewrite your sentences like a line editor might, and they're not there to solve plot problems like a developmental editor would. Okay, so the key thing to remember is that beta readers are more like your future audience. They're regular people who like to read books and they're not professionals and they're not editors, which is actually great and serves a purpose because their raw, honest reactions are going to help you see your story through fresh eyes as the reader would. Now, speaking of that, let's talk about why you need to work with beta readers in the first place. And it all boils down to the reality that at some point you're not going to be able to see your own story clearly. And this just happens because you're too close to it, you know every single scene, every single plot twist, and every single reason your characters behave the way they do. So all of that information lives in your head and it starts to blur the line between what's written on the page and what you're kind of filling in mentally as you read your own story. So this is what I call the blind spot problem or the writer's burden of knowledge. It happens when you've spent so long inside your story that you stop experiencing it the way a reader would. And this happens to every single writer. So this is where beta readers come in and they help you close that gap. They bring a fresh perspective and show you what's actually coming across for them. Sometimes they're going to notice things you missed, so they might point out that your protagonist's backstory wasn't fully explained, or that the middle section of your story slowed down, or that the plot twist at the end was easy to predict. And no matter what kind of feedback you get like this, I just want to point out that these aren't failures. Everybody has something that they can improve in their story. And I like to think about them as more like opportunities to strengthen your existing draft. Okay, so go into this process expecting that you will get constructive feedback. Now, writers often wonder whether to work with beta readers or a developmental editor first. And I usually recommend working with a developmental editor first because a developmental editor is going to help you diagnose those big picture problems and they're going to offer you guidance on how to fix them. So they're going to help you diagnose the problems and offer guidance on how to fix them. And this is not something a beta reader can do. A beta reader will tell you how your story landed and they might call out specific things kind of like we just talked about, but it's not necessarily in their job description or their wheelhouse to tell you how to improve things or give you that guidance on how to improve your manuscript. So ideally, I always recommend working with a developmental editor first. And then once you've done that, beta readers can confirm that the story now lands the way you hoped. Think about it like building a house. The developmental editor is the architect who makes sure the foundation and the layout of your story works. And then the beta readers are the guests who walk through the finished space and tell you how everything feels. All right, so now that you know what beta readers are and why they're so important, let's talk about how to find beta readers. And finding beta readers who fit your story is all about alignment. The best beta readers are familiar with your genre and enjoy reading it regularly. They know the pacing, the tropes, and the expectations that make a story satisfying in that particular genre. So just as an example, if you're writing a cozy mystery, a reader who loves fast-paced thrillers might say that your cozy mystery is too slow, right? But that doesn't mean that your story is weak or broken. It means the feedback is coming from somebody who is outside your target audience or who typically reads outside of your genre. Okay, so I think that's really important. And again, it just goes back to alignment. So here are my three favorite places for finding beta readers. Number one is, of course, online writing communities because they are full of people who understand how this process works. And many reputable writing communities have beta reader swap threads where writers can exchange manuscripts. So think things like Facebook groups, Discord servers, and online forums. These are all great places to start. I always recommend if you're going to reach out to strangers like this, maybe start by swapping a single chapter or a short section of your story to test compatibility and the kind of feedback you get before sharing your whole draft. Okay, so that's the first place you can look, writing communities. The second place you can look is any kind of podcast or writing organization matchups. So some podcasts and organizations will host regular beta reader match programs. And these usually attract writers who are going to take the process seriously and they understand the importance of following through. So a little more reputable than just random online writing communities and a little more structured too, which I think is important. All right, now the third place you can look is at a professional beta reading service. So there are companies out there like the Spun Yarn who provide trained beta readers who offer reliable and structured feedback. They also manage the whole process, which is a huge help as well. So, yes, this is a paid option, but it guarantees thoughtful notes from people who know Storycraft. And this is my favorite or my most recommended option. I'll put the link to the Spun Yarn in the show notes. But I know that not everybody has the budget to work with a beta reading company. So I wanted to offer three different places that you could go to find beta readers. All right, now we've talked about three places you can go to find good beta readers, but let's talk about who to avoid using as a beta reader because I think this is just as important. So, number one, you'll want to avoid family members or close friends who can't stay objective. And when you give family members or friends your manuscript to read, what usually happens is they either give you feedback that says everything's amazing because they're just so proud of you and they don't want to hurt your feelings and things like that, or they give you overly harsh feedback to prove that they're being honest. And neither of these helps you improve your manuscript. So I would steer clear of using family members or close friends as beta readers. I would also steer clear of people who don't usually read fiction. So if someone says, oh, hey, I would love to make an exception to read your book, then I would steer clear because they are not your audience. I would also avoid readers who dislike your genre or just don't regularly read in your genre. So for example, if someone thinks that category romance is silly and a waste of their reading time, they're not going to be able to provide helpful notes on your romance novel. And they'll probably end up critiquing the very elements that your actual target readers would love. Okay, so just something to keep in mind, I would avoid family members or close friends, I would steer clear of people who don't read fiction or who dislike your genre or don't read in your genre. And altogether, I would aim for three to five beta readers who know what to look for in your type of story. I think three to five is enough variety to help you spot patterns without resulting in you drowning in all these different opinions. Okay, so I would say start with three to five and see how it goes from there. Now let's talk about what to do once you've found the beta readers you want to work with. So how do you work with them effectively so you can get the kind of feedback you need without the unnecessary stress? Well, the first thing we need to do is make sure that your manuscript is actually finished. Beta readers do need to read your complete story from start to finish. And that's just because they can't tell you if your ending satisfies your story's promise if you haven't written the ending yet, right? And they can't evaluate the pacing or how things land if there are missing chapters in the middle. And this is one of those things that makes beta readers different from critique partners or a developmental editor. Critique partners or a developmental editor, they might see your rough draft or your draft in progress, but beta readers need to get your completed first draft, even if it's messy and imperfect, it needs to be complete. Okay, so that's the first thing. And then the second thing, you'll want to just make sure you set clear expectations up front. So here's what I would establish and then communicate to your beta readers at the beginning of your time working together. So number one is the timeline. And a standard timeline for most novels is around two to four weeks. So you send them your draft and then you ask for feedback within two to four weeks. Again, you can adjust this based on what works for you, but you want to be specific about when you need the feedback back by. So for example, you might say, I need feedback by November 15th. Does that work for you? If they can't commit to that deadline, then you probably will want to find somebody else just because you don't want your project dragging on forever and ever, right? All right, so that's the first thing you'll want to establish in terms of your expectations, the timeline. The next thing you'll want to establish is how you want them to deliver feedback. So do you prefer your comments directly in a Google Doc? Would you rather have an email with their overall thoughts, some kind of questionnaire that they're gonna fill out and send back to you? And just think about what works best for you and then communicate that to your beta readers clearly. Okay, so that's the second thing, how you want them to deliver their feedback. The third thing you want to establish up front is what kind of feedback you're looking for. And this is where the magic happens. So specific questions usually lead to useful feedback. What you don't want to do is ask your beta readers, well, hey, what did you think? Because that's gonna result in vague answers like, oh yeah, I thought it was good, right? It's not gonna be very useful. So instead, you want to ask targeted questions like, where did you get confused? Or did you have to reread anything? You know, highlight those passages for me. Or which character felt the most real to you, and which one felt the least real or the least developed? You can also ask questions like, Did you see the ending coming? And when did you suspect what would actually happen? Maybe mark that in the draft. Where did you consider putting the book down? Where did you get bored? What scenes do you remember most vividly and why did they stand out to you? And maybe even was there anything you wanted more of or less of, right? So a little bit more specific in the questions you're asking and being specific will just get you better, more useful feedback. Okay, so that is the third thing you want to consider before working with beta readers, and that is what kind of feedback you want. And then once you've got all of those things figured out, so your timeline, how to send in feedback, what kind of feedback you want, I recommend creating a one-page beta reader guide. And in this guide, you'll just list out all of these things. So the due date, how to send feedback, your five to 10 most important questions, and then kind of a permission slip to be honest. So tell them that you want the truth and that nothing's really off the table. And doing this or kind of putting all of this in a one-page guide just makes it easy for your beta readers to succeed because they have all this information right at their fingertips. All right, so let's say that you've sent all of this off to your beta readers, you've created the one-page guide, you've set up expectations, you've sent them your completed manuscript. Now, what should you do? Well, the one thing I don't want you to do is I don't want you to start revising. And I know that it's very tempting because maybe you're sitting there one day and you're like, oh, I need to tweak that scene in chapter five or restructure that middle section or whatever it is. But I want you to resist the urge and I want you to put your manuscript away and focus on something else. And the reason for this is twofold. One, you have just sent your manuscript off to get other people's feedback. So you don't want to go making a bunch of changes that might make their feedback irrelevant. And then also, number two, it's good to get some distance away from your story. And that way you can come back to it with fresh eyes once you have beta reader feedback in hand. Okay, so please do not start revising while your beta readers have your manuscript. Now, another thing you can do while beta readers have your manuscript is you can plan for some kind of check-in point. So if you've given them four weeks to read the manuscript and give you feedback, maybe halfway through at about week two, you can just send them a friendly email and just say, hey, how's it going? Just wanted to know if there's anything you need. Are we still on track for November 15th, right? The point is not to pressure them, it's just to identify if there are any issues, if they need any kind of support, if they have any specific questions for you and things like that. So that is another option of kind of what you can do while beta readers have your manuscript, but you know, it's optional, it's not something you totally have to do. All right, so now let's fast forward to what happens once you get beta reader feedback back. And what I want you to do first is just be aware that feedback can trigger a mix of emotions. So I want you to take your time reading through everything, maybe read through one set of notes a day, and then just let it sit. So read through everything and then maybe after a day or two, come back and be ready to treat the notes as information, not judgment. So just to reiterate, it's very normal to feel a mixture of things when you get feedback back. Even well-intended feedback can make us feel negative emotions. So just know it's normal, know it's going to happen. Plan to give yourself a few days to kind of come down from those emotions, and then after a day or two, come back and treat those notes as information, not a judgment of you or your writing. And then what I want you to do is I want you to sort your feedback into four different buckets. So, bucket number one is issues that you must fix. And these are issues that multiple readers have flagged. For example, if three out of five readers got confused at the same plot point, that's not really a matter of opinion anymore, right? It's a problem. The majority of readers got confused there. Same thing goes for anything that blocks your story's core intention or your intention with your story. For example, if readers find your protagonist unlikable when they're supposed to be really sympathetic and empathetic and kind of an everyday hero, then that is a must-fix, right? So that is the first bucket. You want to just put everything in there that you know you're going to address and you know it would make your story better. The second bucket is for any issues that you think you should consider, but you're just not sure what to do with yet. So these are suggestions that make you pause and think, huh, they might have a point there. And often they'll align with that little voice you ignored while writing. So the one that maybe popped up and said, this scene feels a little bit slow, feels a little bit boring, and then beta readers kind of come in and confirm your gut instinct. This is where you'll want to pay attention. And I say these are issues you should consider because maybe you don't know how to fix them yet, right? You don't know how to fix them, you don't really know what you're gonna do, but they're things you should consider because you know they will make your manuscript stronger. All right, now the third bucket is for things that would be nice to address if time allows. And these are really just small polished level improvements that aren't super critical to your story's success. So maybe someone suggested adding more sensory detail to that one coffee shop scene in act one. That's a nice idea, and you can definitely act on that if you agree and if you have time, but it's not going to make or break your story. Okay, so that is bucket number three issues that would be nice to address if you have time. And then bucket number four is for things that you are going to politely ignore. So any feedback that misunderstands your vision or your genre goes in this bucket. If there's anything you don't want to act on, just put it in this bucket, it's totally okay. It's your story and you get to decide what you take action on and what you don't. So let's say, for example, that you're writing a cozy mystery and one of your beta readers said, I think we need more action, we need more explosions, we need more death, whatever it is. Just, you know, say thanks for the feedback, put it in this bucket of things you'll politely ignore and move on. The goal here is not to address every single thing, it's to spot the bigger patterns and to execute the fixes that will make your story better. All right, so that's what you'll do with the feedback once you get it back. And now it's time to turn those notes that you've just made or how you've sorted the feedback into a plan of action. And this is where having some kind of simple system to follow will save you a lot of stress later. So I recommend always starting with the big picture issues first. I want you to look at the story as a whole and address structure, pacing, character arcs, theme, and things like that before zooming in on sentences or descriptions. And this is just because there's no reason to fine-tune a scene or grab your thesaurus and find the most elevated word if that scene or that word is not going to survive the next round of edits, right? So start with the big picture first and then also be on the lookout for patterns. So if several readers said that the middle of your story felt slow or that they lost track of a subplot, fixing those kind of bigger issues will help everything else fall into place. So look for patterns as you go through your feedback and as you prepare your revision plan. And then lastly, I recommend that you either update your outline. So the one that you used to draft your story. If you still have that, I want you to update it so it matches whatever the most recent version of your draft looks like. Or if you don't have an outline that you wrote from, now is a great time to create a reverse outline. So what this essentially is, is you're just turning your draft into outline form. Okay, so you can go scene by scene, chapter by chapter, however you want to do it. And then once you know what you want to take action on based on your beta reader feedback, you'll want to incorporate those changes in your outline before touching your manuscript. And this is just because seeing your story from a distance is going to help you understand how every decision ripples outward. Okay, so whether you need to update your existing outline or create an outline to reflect your current manuscript, I recommend making the changes on there first and then using that to kind of work through any issues or anything you're not sure about before making the changes on your manuscript. Okay, so as an example, let's say if you strengthen your protagonist's motivation in chapter three, that's probably going to affect what they do in let's say chapter 15, right? So mapping that out in an outline keeps your story cohesive and then saves you time when you go back in your draft to make the actual changes. All right, now the last thing I recommend here is to keep track of what you're changing and why. So in that document where you sorted your feedback into the four buckets, which remember are issues you must fix, issues you should consider, issues that are nice to address if time allows, and things that you're going to pass on or politely ignore. I would make notes on what you've changed and why. So it could be as simple as just crossing through feedback that you've addressed or putting a check mark next to it. You could even leave yourself little notes of why you decided to address it or how. And you could even include the actual change you made. If you want, you can grab another color marker or pen and maybe put an X next to the things that you've decided not to change or not to address as well. And I know this sounds like a little extra work, but here's why I recommend doing it. A lot of the writers I've met over the last 10 years, they tend to second guess themselves mid-revision. And so having this kind of record or these notes to self will remind you why each decision made sense at the time. And it also keeps your process transparent or clear. If let's say you get stuck and you need to bring in a book coach or a developmental editor later. So it's one of those things that yes, it feels like an extra step, but I do see a lot of writers get stuck here, kind of second guessing why they did something or what they were thinking at the time. So, you know, it could be a beneficial step to add into your process. All right, now, speaking of bringing in a book coach or a developmental editor, sometimes the feedback you get from beta readers points to a deeper problem, but you're not sure how to solve it. And this is when you can tap in a book coach or a developmental editor to help you understand not just what needs work, but why it isn't working and how you can fix it based on your goals. All right, so if you need help at this phase, or if you get stuck, just remember that that's what book coaches and developmental editors are there for. Now let's say that you've made major changes, so you've rewritten the ending, you've added new chapters, you've reshaped a character's arc, whatever it is. Sometimes it's a good idea to invite another small group of beta readers to go through your updated manuscript. But if your updates were mostly scene level changes or language cleanup and things like that, then I would say that you're ready for the next phase. So this might mean moving into line editing, proofreading, or preparing to query agents depending on what your goals are. All right, so hopefully you can see how valuable beta readers are to the writing and editing process. And hopefully you have a better understanding of how to work with them as well. Because beta readers are truly one of the most valuable tools you have as a writer. They're gonna help you understand how your story lands with real readers and show you where to focus as you revise. And yes, I know sharing your work can feel vulnerable, but it's also a really powerful and important part of the process. Not only will you learn to look at feedback with clarity instead of fear, but you'll also be able to use it to strengthen both your story and your craft as well. All right, now I know we went over a lot in this episode, so let me recap the three key points. Key point number one is that beta readers are your fresh eyes. They're everyday readers who will give you honest, raw feedback on your complete manuscript, helping you spot blind spots and understand how your story is going to land with real readers. Key point number two is that you'll want to find the right beta readers who know your genre. And remember, alignment matters. The best feedback comes from readers who love and understand your story genre, so seek them out in writing communities, beta reader matchup programs, or in professional beta reading services. And lastly, key point number three is to set clear expectations and handle feedback strategically. So communicate timelines, communicate how you want to receive feedback, and give your beta readers any specific questions you want answered up front. And then when their feedback arrives, pause, sort their feedback into actionable buckets, and focus on big picture revisions first to keep your process intentional and efficient. All right, and just remember that every author you admire has gone through this same process. They've opened their drafts to outside readers, they've faced tough notes, and they've used those insights to make their story stronger. So you're just doing the same thing, and that's what's going to take your manuscript from first draft to polished draft. So just hang in there, you've already written something that didn't exist before, that is the most challenging part, and now it's time to refine the story that you always meant to tell. Alright, so that's it for this episode of the Fiction Writing Made Easy Podcast. Head over to Savannah Gilbo.com forward slash podcast for the complete show notes, including the resources I mentioned today, as well as bonus materials to help you implement what you've learned. And if you're ready to get more personalized guidance for your specific writing stage, whether you're just starting out, stuck somewhere in the middle of a draft, drowning in revisions, or getting ready to publish, take my free 30-second quiz at savannaGilbo.com forward slash quiz. You'll get a customized podcast playlist that'll meet you right where you're at and help you get to your next big milestone. Last but not least, make sure to follow this podcast in your podcast player of choice because I'll be back next week with another episode full of actionable tips, tools, and strategies to help you become a better writer. Until then, happy writing.