Beta Reader - An Author's Best Friend
Who is a Beta Reader?
A beta reader is essentially a voracious reader who will test-read your unpublished work and give feedback from a reader’s perspective. In this format, they will give you the feedback from the point of view of an average reader. This critique will indeed be useful to authors to fix the issues previously unseen about plot, pace, and character development along with worldbuilding. A beta reader is essentially a sounding board for an author, who will help you to see if the book makes the right impact it is intended for.
You can always ask your friends and family to read your work, but they may take forever to get back to you. Perhaps they will tell you only what you want to hear. Besides, some of their points may be difficult to incorporate. Your writers’ group may undoubtedly work as a critique partner, but they are not your target audience. I am. A reader like me will, no doubt, provide you with the set of eyes your book needs in order to ensure the feedback received is genuine and workable.
Why is a Beta Reader an author's best friend?
Most authors need the services of beta readers to improve their creative craft. Often times, it is easy to lose sight of the forest for the trees, especially with multiple edits. Without beta readers, authors cannot get an objective feedback on their book from a third person, who is invested in the story but not so deeply involved that they cannot see the flaws in it. And that could potentially hurt the authors financially in multiple editing costs.
A good beta reader like me will try to bring your book to the level of content editing that is required by industry standards, whichever route you choose to publish it.
Some of the readers offer to beta read, showing initial enthusiasm for helping the authors, which might dwindle later on. And you may not get a detailed feedback that is important to uplift your book. But a professional beta reader like me will do all that as well as stand by you. I will respect you as an author and your work, thereupon providing you valuable input for the story and multiple rewrites.
The initial critique may be difficult to digest. But, in reality, those lines will make your book shine. As I always tell my authors, it is better that a beta reader criticizes the story in a private feedback than a reader does in a public review. A negative review brings down the interest in your book among the reading community as well as decreases future sales.
In addition to this, I offer several types of editing services if you are willing to collaborate with me long-term.
Why should you hire me as your Beta Reader?
I have been reading books from different genres and subgenres for years now. I know and therefore understand what is liked in these books as well as what doesn’t work. Some of my feedback also comes from my instincts. Over the past 7 years, I have worked with many clients whose testimonials can be found here. With not only a keen eye on plot and character, I also offer suggestions to make your book stronger, while respecting your voice.
I offer a comprehensive analysis of your manuscript after reading it thrice. Once I have beta read your work, I will provide you valuable feedback, concentrating on the opening scene, the flow of the story, characterization, dialogue, plot holes. In addition to the input on writing style as well as any other areas that might not be working from a reader’s perspective.
I am an insatiable reader who reads anywhere between 150 to 300 books per year, not including the beta reading and editing projects that I accept. Also, being a person of color, I can bring an added nuance to the feedback. Having faced bias and discrimination, I can spot lines that do not feel respectful of other cultural backgrounds.
Not only will you get an overall feedback, but also detailed comments using Word Track Changes to give you a complete idea of I feel when I read your book. As some of my authors have said, my feedback borders on developmental editing as it helps them correct all the holes in the book. That too at an affordable rate.
Most of the authors that I beta-edit for are repeat clients, whose books have received the bestseller tag or have been in the top ten of Amazon’s list.
What a Beta Reader does
- I will read your manuscript from the perspective of a reader, not a copy editor. I always endeavor to bring the book to the level that the reader in me will automatically give it 5 stars if I review it on my blog. There is always an internal battle going on within me that causes me to push the authors out of their comfort zones. This especially helps in getting your books uplifted to the standard of an industry bestseller. I do the same in developmental editing too.
- I can choose to correct your typos, but that will be my choice. This is not what a beta reader is looking for while reading your book.
- I will offer constructive criticism about your character development or story arcs, dialogues, and pacing along with plot holes and timeline inconsistency.
- Suggest ideas on how to improve the veracity of the story, make the characters genuine and help you with your troublesome chapters.
- I will try to work within your time frame or give you a reasonable estimate. Rushed charges would be applied where needed.
- My dual feedback, both as detailed live comments on the manuscript along with the in-depth report on the overall feedback, will undeniably give you the reader’s perspective. And I would expect you to accept this criticism with an open mind, understanding that I come from a place of helping you. A thank you in the email will be the bare minimum you can do post receiving the feedback. A testimonial and spreading my name through word of mouth will, without a doubt, place your name on my gratitude list.
What a Beta Reader does not do?
- Beta reading is not a book review, it is an in-depth analysis of your work.
- I will help you to rewrite the story for you, only if you choose to opt for my editing + rewriting services.
- Similarly, I will copy-edit and proofread your story, only when you choose those services. They don’t come within the scope of professional beta reading.
- I will not mollycoddle or overindulge you, because that would be counterproductive to what I have promised to do as a beta reader. You, as an author, deserve an objective and completely honest feedback.
Now you're probably thinking...
Why hire a professional beta reader like me who charges for her work rather than someone off Twitter or Fiverr who will ‘beta read’ your book for free or an absurdly low fee? Very true. You can do that if you are not proud of the work you have produced. Or if you do not want it to shine and come to the level of a bestseller. Also, it can also mean you may get a sloppy feedback from someone who is not invested in you as much as I would be. Or someone who is not working as hard as I am in the hope to see you attain success in the literary world.
To conclude
An experienced beta reader or editor brings an added layer to your book as well as gives it the right treatment it deserves. Top-notch advice and feedback that can be applied to the book will help you to take your writing to the next level.
Only the highest quality of service will be given at every point by me. I will strive to answer in detail all the queries that you may have after reading the feedback. You can always send me the questions that would like to be answered along with your manuscript. I am very dedicated to helping every author who wants guidance in creating the best possible book.
My commitment is completely to the book from the moment I undertake it to polish it and get it ready for editing. And not a single line of your book will be shared with anyone in real life or on any social media. I will not share screenshots of the snippets of your manuscript to showcase as a sample of my work to any author.
With this in mind, I offer to do a sample beta read or edit of the author’s own work to understand if we are a good fit.
It is said the sky is the limit, and now I want to help authors soar the skies of success.