Maybe it was coincidence (which I don't always believe in, by the way), but the moment I learned about and started thinking more about what it would be like have beta readers for my WIP (Work In Progress) was the moment a local author asked me to beta read for her.
I thought, "This is great! I can experience what it's like to be a beta reader before I ask others to beta read for me." I'm a big believer in doing things you expect others to do for you. This might come from my teaching experiences, but I never (for example) assign my students to do something that I, myself, as a student wouldn't do and/or haven't done. But before I share with you my first time beta reading experience (and give some advice!), let's make sure we're on the same page. What's a beta reader? Beta readers (according to my understanding) are test-readers, people who read your WIP before you submit for publication and/or self-publish (etc). Think of it this way: Let's say you ask your mom to read your WIP. If she's like my mom, she might read a few chapters (or the whole thing) and then say, "It's great, sweetheart!" or "It's cute! I'm proud of you!" As nice as these things are to hear, they're not usually helpful. They don't help you see the "real" reader's experience. They don't, essentially, help you know where you need to revise. Getting advice from parents, family members, or friends is often a risky thing because they don't want to say something "too critical" about the story. They have a relationship with you, and they don't want to put that relationship in jeopardy because they told you they didn't like your book. Enter in the beta reader. These are "good readers," but usually people you don't see on a daily basis. They can give you a better sense of what your story is doing well (or not well), what questions they have (confusing parts), and give you encouragement. How to beta read When I agreed to beta read, I shouldn't have been as nervous about as I was. After all, part of my job as an ESL writing instructor is to give constructive feedback on what the writer has done well and what I think would make the draft better. I'm a tutor, as well, so this gives me additional experience in coaching writers. But reviewing an entire book?! That sounds really difficult! I thought about it, and, well, I guess I have some experience in that, too. I mean, I read books, and I often give a star rating and write a "review" on GoodReads. Still... I wanted to do a good job, so I reached out to the Writing Community on Twitter, and here's a helpful blog someone gave me: BEST PRACTICES FOR WORKSHOPPING I read that and felt a little better about beta reading, so I dived into it. My beta reading experience I don't know why, but I always figured that when I asked someone to beta read for me, I'd begin by printing out chapters or chunks of my book and giving to them in a three-ring-binder. I envisioned myself hole punching and creating a package covered in smily stickers and a thank you note. I'd make several copies of the manuscript and mail them out readers who agreed to review my book and give me feedback. (I suppose I got that image from my workshopping days in college-- not the smily sticker part, but the having a physical copy of the draft part. We always printed out our poems and short stories for others to review.) But that's not what the local author gave me. She used (and paid for) a program called BookFunnel, which allowed me (as the beta reader) to open the large book-length document on my phone/electronic device for free through Play Books. When I accessed the document, it had a disclaimer that told me what the local author was looking for (something she wrote herself) and how long I had until the document went away. It makes sense. It's like that moment I tell my students that when it comes to adding page numbers to your word document to "let the computer do the work," and select the insert page numbers option, rather than counting and typing in your page numbers. Instead of copying and hole punching and compiling little notebooks together, let technology do the work! So that was the first thing I learned about beta reading. (Probably obvious to many of you, but still...) The second thing I learned about it was how to convey my thoughts about the book to the author. For this, I again turned to the Writing Community and asked Twitter. I asked if I should comment on each scene or chapter or an overall review of the book. The answer? Whatever works for you! As I read, I decided to take notes (via google docs) for most of the chapters and then compile my thoughts in a long letter-type email to the author. I started out by telling her that I'm sorry if I sound like a teacher (because that's what I am), but these are the things I liked about the book and these are the things I'd suggest to change in order to make it more engaging to me as a reader. And then, I attached my notes. The email was received well. Compiled advice Overall, I enjoyed my beta reading experience. If I were to do it again, I might look at my personal schedule a little more seriously because her beta reading timeline overlapped with my essay grading times, so it was challenging to read the entire novel in (essentially) one week. I asked for more time over the weekend, which she gave me, which leads me to my compiled advice for those of you considering to beta read:
As I mentioned, I'm not quite ready to ask for beta readers. But I'm glad I had this experience because it gave me a "taste" of what I will be asking others to do for me, allowed me to see how the beta reading process works, and allowed me to test out (and challenge) my reviewing skills. If you have a book you'd like beta read, if you write MG or YA, consider me. I'd love to have more experience in it.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |