No one can make good art alone. It’s impossible to not have blind spots. When it comes to fiction, there are some narrative issues that only a first-time reader will be able to spot. You definitionally wrote the book, so you cannot be a first-time reader for yourself. That’s where beta readers come in.
In beta reading, you give everyday readers in your target audience an early copy of your manuscript. Then the beta readers give you informal feedback about what they enjoyed and what they didn’t. Your blind spots have officially been checked! You can now address the key issues you missed before you publish it.
I’ve already written a post on the specific questions you can ask beta readers. However, I think it’s important to add a couple more notes of nuance to that discussion. So, in this post, I’ll elaborate on how to approach that feedback once you get it.
Tips for Approaching Beta Reader Feedback
Beta readers primarily tell you what did and didn’t work for them—which is incredibly useful information. That being said, everyday readers tend to struggle with differentiating between personal taste and objective issues. That’s why you should pick readers who are within your target audience. If you’re writing a romance, your beta readers should be romance readers—not horror readers.
Even so, individuals within your target audience will still be unique. As a result, they can still name issues of personal taste as objective problems. So, when reading beta reader feedback, you’ll need to be discerning.
Genre concerns aside, there’s still another issue to be aware of. Beta readers are phenomenal at identifying what issues exist and where they are. They tend to struggle with identifying why an issue exists and how you should address it.
For example, a reader might say, “This part was boring. There weren’t enough fights.” One of three things could be happening here:
1. The reader has accurately defined the problem, the cause, and the best solution.
This is possible, but to be frank, it’s very rare for the average reader to fully pull this off. The factors that make a story engaging are layered and complex. Most everyday readers lack the expertise or language to accurately pinpoint the problem’s cause and best solution.
Even editing professionals like me are not as equipped to find the best solution as the author will be. It’s your story—you know it best. I’m better than the average reader at pinpointing the root cause of issues, but you are the one who is best positioned to find the ideal solution for the story you want to tell.
2. The reader is judging your book by a different genre’s standards.
For example, if the reader enjoys action-adventure stories and you’ve written a romance, the problem lies in the mismatch between the reader and the genre—not in your book. This is why you should try to find readers who enjoy your specific genre.
Note that this reader-genre mismatch can happen with more subtle genre differences. For example, fast-paced sci-fi thrillers are very different from expansive sci-fi political dramas. The world of speculative fiction is vast. Just because someone says that they’re a sci-fi or fantasy reader, it doesn’t mean they are your sci-fi or fantasy reader.
3. The reader is correct about the issue but wrong about the cause and solution.
When a reader says, “This part of the story was slow—you needed more X here,” they’re usually wrong about whatever X is. Most of the time, the reader fills in the X with whatever they personally find the most exciting. However, “add exciting events” is not actually the solution to pacing problems. “Giving the characters a plot-relevant goal with an engaging obstacle in the way”—that’s what usually helps.
Action alone isn’t engaging—it also needs to be plot relevant. If an action scene gives the protagonist a plot-relevant goal, then it’ll strengthen the pacing. Without a plot-relevant goal, even the most entertaining action will not address the pacing problem.
In this case, the beta reader did a great job of identifying a problem, but their suggested solution didn’t quite hit the mark.
So, when your beta readers do represent your target audience, they will be very effective at pinpointing which parts are engaging, which parts are slow, which parts they found confusing, and which characters they found engaging or frustrating. Identification of problems—not causes or solutions—is the true value of beta readers. It’ll then be up to you to find the best solution for the story you want to tell.
Questions to Ask Yourself
So, when you get a beta reader’s critiques, here are the questions to ask yourself:
- Does this feedback reflect an audience mismatch?
- What is the issue, and how is it impacting your target readers? Be careful not to name any causes yet. This question is about identifying the effect separately from its cause.
- What is the root cause of this issue?
Your readers can be right and wrong at the same time. These are the questions that will help you glean constructive insights from reader feedback, even the feedback that doesn’t sit right with you.
0 Comments