It has been a bit since I posted an update, but I have needed some time to put together this next post about the terrifying topic of Beta Reading!
Now what is beta reading?
Beta Reading is when an author reaches out to potential readers and get their feedback on the unpublished story. This is different from an Advance Reader Copy (ARC) reader, who reviews the book in its final form before being published.
My Experience
Over the past couple of months, I have had the opportunity to be on both sides of the Beta Reading Spectrum – as the recipient and as a reader.
My personal experience as a beta reading recipient went through two rounds. My first round I deemed unsuccessful. Few of my readers finished or responded after the first couple weeks. Some of the problems were my own: I released chapters in segments rather all at once, I didn’t regularly update my beta readers, and quite frankly, the story wasn’t ready.
My second round went a lot better. Of the 14 beta readers, 10 of them openly finished. Anything higher than 50% completion with beta reading I think is a success. Not only that, while there were things that needed to be adjusted, the feedback was great. I was terrified people would hate it, but they loved it…and that made this all the better.
After receiving my own beta feedback, I had the honor to beta read for Esther T. Jones’s second novel, Thorunn. While I won’t go into details on the actual story (that will be saved for the book review when the novel is released), it opened my eyes on how to improve the beta reading experience of my readers in the future.
So, after these experiences, I wanted to pass along some insights to others who may be preparing to either send their novel to beta readers or for any readers preparing to beta read. While in no way these are universal, I think they provide some insight…or I hope so.
E.S. Barrison 