Topical Tuesday: Beta Readers

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It’s official. Technology hates me.

Yesterday, I finally made it back to Philly and was able to retrieve my computer from the package room. (If you remember, I stomped on the screen a couple weeks back.) It had a shiny new monitor and I was super excited to use it.

That’s when the internet in my room decided that it wanted to stop working. I called Lenovo; not a problem with the computer. So, now I am waiting for an appointment with Hot Wire for them to come fix my ethernet.

So, it’s Topical Wednesday! That has the same ring to it, right?

 

Anyway, I hope you already checked out Jay’s blog for his take on beta readers.

 

Beta readers are those wonderful people who you feel comfortable torturing by asking them to read your unfinished work.

When should you use them?  Always. You should never subject agents or editors to your work before you have let someone else “less important” (to your career at least) read it. Even if you are a genius…it’s probably not going to hurt, right? More specifically, though, the betas should come not after your first draft, but after you have suffered through several drafts and feel that it is almost ready for submission. Then, resist the urge and send your project off to betas instead.

Who should your beta readers be?  You should certainly have a few betas that you trust wholeheartedly. My main beta is my dad. He’s a super editor and deserves some kind of medal for how many times he read WEIRD TATTOOS. But, how many of those people can you really have? I’ve found the Absolute Write boards to be an excellent source of beta readers–so long as you are willing to return the favor. Sure, not all of them worked out great. But, I think I was comfortably able to discern which insights were valuable.

How do you know when to disregard a beta’s advice? This is a tough one and there is no easy answer. Every beta is a real live reader and you have to be aware that their reaction, no matter what it is, could be the exact same reaction of an agent/editor/joe-schmo shopper at the bookstore. So, my rule of thumb is to never discount any comment made by a beta reader. At the very least, read it carefully and try to understand why the comment was made. That doesn’t mean you need to re-work your final draft if you honest-to-dog don’t agree, but you must consider. Always.

 

Beta etiquette: Having followed several writer boards during the course of the past year, I’ve noticed a few breaches in etiquette that can be addressed with these simple rules:

1. No beta reader is required to read your work. You might think that since they agreed to do it, they must complete it. Yes, that’d be nice. But sometimes the most valuable lesson you can learn from your beta is the fact that he or she opted to stop reading.

2. Offer to return the favor in advance. No one should just be a taker. If you can’t beta read for them immediately, that might be fine. Just be honest about when you will available to beta for them.

3. Line editing is great and goes above and beyond the call of duty for any beta reader, but be sure to include general comments as well.

4. If all your comments sound something like this: “This is swell!” or “This will be a bestseller for sure!” That’s not really that helpful even if you think you are being nice.

5. Don’t criticize your beta reader. If you don’t agree, think, internalize the suggestion, then thank the beta for her time.

 

Status: I found an artist for my graphic novel. I’m really excited about him. More later.

 

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Tags: beta readers, fiction, graphic novel, Jay Solomon, Philly, process, technology, Topical Tuesday, writing