Betareaders

[anodyne]

How do you pick them? I have a lot of people who have been asking to read one of my novels, any of my novels, really. But, the point of beta reading is to have more than sycophantic responses, right?

If I let my mom, friends and extended family read the book, I'm pretty sure all I'll get is "This is wonderful!" with nothing constructive or useful in terms of rewriting or preparing it for submission. Rewrite #3 is almost done, and I think it's getting close to that time.

So the question is, how do you guys find and pick people to beta read your novels? Or, what are the reasons you skip beta-reading altogether?

[Jack Nog]

This is a good question.

I've only written one novel and I'm planning on doing at least two revisions before letting anyone by your's truly read it.

However, it has come up in my thoughts about who I let read it. I came up with two types of readers I would like to see beta the thing.

1. People who like to read...a lot.
2. People who can point out the technical stuff (grammar, spelling, you name it)

I believe I have two people for spot number one and they may do passingly well at spot number two. My father-in-law and his friends wife are both avid readers. I've seen them go through a book or two a week before.

This might sound like a bad idea because of the close relationship I have with both. However, they are two of the most critical people I know, and certainly not afraid to speak their mind to me concerning just about everything else in my life. Why not my writing?

I would like to find a dedicated beta reader for spot number two. If these two turn out good enough, maybe I won't need it and get two for the price of one.

[ORION]

I have written 4 manuscripts. My third manuscript is my debut novel and will be released in a week.
Beta readers were critical to my success. THEY ARE NOT RELATED TO ME. It took me three years to gather them -- discarding some--
THINGS I LEARNED:
1. just because people ask you to let them read does not mean they really want to
2. you need fast readers in the genre you write
3. you need READERS NOT WRITERS -- I have never had a decent beta reader that was a writer - they are too busy thinking how THEY would write my book
4. you actually have to have written a decent book to have decent beta readers. If people have trouble finishing your book or never get back to you -- that tells you something.
5. My betas started here in the marina - cruisers are notoriously cheap and hate to spend money on books. many of my manuscripts crossed oceans.
6.I do NOT have them copy edit - that is something you as a writer MUST do. If you still have trouble with grammar and tense then take a class. I have betas tell me 2 things - a) mark places where they stopped reading and b) circle the wtf's (i.e. anyplace they were confused or did not understand)That's it. Do not get into a dialogue over how they should have understood or explain your reasoning. You do not have that liberty with your reader.
Sorry for the long post!

[Novelhistorian]

There's another qualification, which to me matters more than any other: whether someone would be a good reader for the kind of work I do. Some people simply don't read work in a particular genre, so is there any sense asking them if that's what you're writing? That's especially true if they keep trying to pull the rudder of your book over to a different course entirely and make it what they'd prefer to read rather than what you wrote.

[job]

Orion said it all and said it well.

-- Don't ask beta readers to do your copy editing.

-- Do not expect your betas to solve plot problems.
(They are the canary in the mine. They let you know something is wrong. It's up to you to fix it.)

-- Find someone who enjoys reading the kind of book you write.

-- I'd say they can be writers ... disagreeing respectfully with Orion here.

-- And Orion laid out what you want from your betas;

a) where did it get boring?

b) where do we wander into
'huh?' or
'wtf?' or
'no way!'
territory.

[Niteowl]

Excellent post, thanks!

But this part made me go "uh oh":

4. you actually have to have written a decent book to have decent beta readers. If people have trouble finishing your book or never get back to you -- that tells you something.


Oh well, i'm sure my beta readers are only slow readers.. Yeah. That's it. Ugh.