I haven’t posted in a while. I’ve been waiting to complete a task I wanted to share with you—the use of beta readers to improve your book. For a novelist, the use of beta readers is critical. What are they? Wikipedia defines them as: “A beta reader is a test reader of an unreleased work of literature or other writing (similar to beta testing in software), who gives feedback from the point of view of an average reader to the author.”
This is an important stage in the publishing cycle because it’s your opportunity to find out where readers might have issues with your book. Those issues can lead to no reviews or, worse, bad reviews, and that can kill any chance of the book’s success. Good reviews sell books. The betas tell you what they liked and didn’t like, what confused or troubled them, where they got hung up on your verbiage, and other impediments to your success. They also are the source of your first posted reviews.
Betas are not a substitute for a professional editor. In fact, the betas should get the fully edited version so they don’t get hung up on the countless matters that your editor is responsible for addressing. Betas should be avid readers in your book’s genre. The best place to find them is among those who have become readers of your books. If this is your first book, google “where to find beta readers.” This article doesn’t have the room to address that issue.
They are unpaid, but, as a reward for their patience and participation, I send them a signed copy of the book when the print edition is released.
Okay, now on to my recent experience. This was my sixth book overall and the fifth in my Sleeping Dogs series of espionage thrillers. I have an email list of several hundred names for my occasional newsletter concerning the series. Most of the recipients are fans of the series and fans of the genre. I explained what a beta’s role is, when I needed their response, and asked for volunteers. I got twelve responses. That’s a workable number, but more would be better, as you’ll see. I contacted the twelve. Two never responded. One didn’t want to read it in ebook format (but later bought a print version and loved it.).
I gave the remaining nine a code that would provide them with a downloadable ebook, in this case from Smashwords, which can make the book available in any format you choose from Kindle’s MOBI to EPUB to PDF etc. I asked for their critique in two weeks. I actually planned on three weeks, but it’s always better to have a built-in fudge factor—it’s the human nature thing. After three weeks, I had heard from eight of the betas. I incorporated their suggestions that I believed improved the novel. (You’re not obliged to incorporate all of them.)
The second phase of the betas’ responsibility was to post a review as soon as the book was available for the posting of reviews. Ultimately, six of them did. To recap, I started with twelve prospects and ended with six posted reviews—five 5-stars and one 4-star. Remember, good reviews sell books. So, always start with a surfeit of beta prospects. With many of them it will be akin to herding cats, but worth it in the end.