beta readers – Page 2 – Norma J. Hill

Thank you from the bottom of my heart to all my beta readers – Anna, Rachel, Aggie, Ken, and Maureen. Each of you has generously shared your personal responses, perspectives, and suggestions. As I’ve been applying many of them to my manuscript, I’ve learned so much myself, and I’m sure my future readers are going to enjoy the final product – my book of Summerland Stories.

Are you wondering who beta readers are and what they do? As I explain in lots more detail in other articles on this site, such as “Self-Editing 6: Your Self-Editing Team” (scroll well down there), beta readers are a team of helpers who read widely in your genre or format, and who you can trust to be encouraging while also being honest about what you can do to improve your manuscript. If at least some of them are writers, that’s a bonus. Once you have gone through your manuscript (ideally, after you read other books in your genre, research about your genre, get input from your writing group members, and the do several drafts of self-editing), you should be able to list concerns you still personally have about your manuscript. At that point, you’ll want to reach out to your beta reading team. They will read your manuscript, answer some of your questions, plus provide you with other perspectives you may not have thought of. If you want to know more details, do check out the link above (as well as this post and this post and this post, too!)

Before you hand out your manuscript to your beta readers, you’ll want to not only make a list of questions for which you want input, but also provide some instructions about what you are looking for in a beta read. Here’s what I sent to my potential beta readers for my Summerland Stories manuscript:

TO MY BETA-READERS

Thank you so much for volunteering to read my “Summerland Stories” manuscript. What I am looking for is your personal thoughts related to the following questions. While there are quite a few questions for which I am seeking your input, you need only answer those which you personally find important.

I would suggest reading through these questions before you read the manuscript; then, keep them in mind as you read, and jot down your thoughts as you read. You can write down your responses after each question below and then return the email; or, if you prefer, you can send me a separate email with your thoughts recorded in whatever format you wish (point form, a short report, etc.).

I am not seeking “proofreading” (punctuation, spelling, minor grammatical errors, etc.); that will be dealt with later. Rather, I desire your “feelings” as a “reader” about the book and its stories at this point. If you find specific instances where you think I need to make improvements, you can list them along with your thoughts by jotting down the relevant page numbers.

Please try to read the manuscript, jot down your thoughts, and email them to me by the end of December 2024 if possible. (This allows you approximately 6 weeks).

As my thanks for your participation, I would like to offer you one of the following; please let me know what would work best for you:
– a free copy of the book when it is published
– a beta-read “trade” : in other words, I will beta-read your manuscript when you have it ready for that
– four free hours of professional editing of your manuscript
– four free hours of person-to-person (online or in person) writing or self-editing coaching

The following are some questions I would like you to keep in mind when reading the manuscript. I suggest choosing and focusing on 5 or 6 of the questions that you think are most important as you read the manuscript (though of course you may answer as many as you wish—and any other issues you think I may need to consider).

1. If you were able to choose the title of this book, what would you name it?
2. If there are section or chapter headings you think could be improved, what would you name them instead?
3. How do you feel about the way the book is structured? If you don’t like the structure, how would you suggest I improve it?
4. What themes or focus do you find in this book? Are they clear? Suggestions?
5. I there anything off-topic that I should cut?
6. Is anything missing? Are there scenes or details that need to be added?
7. I realize there are a few repetitions, as certain events are important to more than one story or chapter. Do you find any of these repetitions are annoying?
8. Are there any scenes or chapters that you find boring or irrelevant? If so, which are they, and do you think I should replace them with a brief summary, or just take them out altogether?
9. Is there anything that might be confusing to someone who doesn’t know about my life or the people involved?
10. Do any of the chapters and/or sections feel too long?
11. Do any of the chapters and/or sections feel too short?
12. Do people come alive on the page? Have I chosen the right details and examples to express their character?
13. Do I include details that give a sense of the historical time when events are happening?
14. Do I capture what it was like to be there, experiencing the events first-hand?
15. Does the author note hook the reader’s attention and give a good impression of what is to come?
16. Is the ending satisfying?
17. Are there any ethical concerns you think I need to address?
18. Do you feel like readers could choose to either start at the beginning and read to the end—or, alternatively, be able to choose to open to any chapter or section of the book and read there whenever they feel like “dipping in”?

Thank you so much!

COMING NEXT: In my next post, I will share some of the methods and comments my beta-readers shared with me!

Norma J. Hill

a pen and paper mama site

Category: beta readers

Summerland Stories #10: Even Editors Need Editors – and Beta Readers!

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