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Okay, let’s talk about how to work with beta readers. I have two examples for you, in fact. I’ll walk you through what I’m doing for Novel Study and I’ll also talk about the process of being a beta reader for historical mystery novelist Jane Steen. First, Novel Study: Because this is my first time using beta readers for my own work, and I’m not entirely sure what kind of feedback to expect, I’ve left the process somewhat open-ended. I wrote up a Google doc (which you can see here and are free to adapt to your own purposes) with some basic instructions and requests, and then put together a set of questions I know I have about the book. These range from very specific (Are the illustrations in chapter 2 accessible?) to very general (Are there any topics I didn’t cover or weren’t covered in enough depth?). I’m asking beta readers to send their feedback in whatever form is easiest for them—although not as comments directly on the manuscript as that would be cumbersome to manage. I had seventeen people sign up to beta read, which feels like a great number. Because life (and February) happens, I’m sure I won’t get feedback from all of them, but I think I’ll get enough to be useful. Beta readers have three weeks to return feedback; those who do will get a free copy of the finished book in their preferred format, as well as my IMMENSE gratitude. (Seriously! Thank you to those of you who are reading this newsletter!) To create a copy for beta readers, I pulled the manuscript into Vellum once more, tweaked the formatting, added a couple new illustrations as well as some internal notes for beta readers, exported the file into the various formats, and paged through the PDF to check it. I uploaded the files to BookFunnel and used their Certified Mail tool to deliver individualized, watermarked ebook copies to each beta reader. I just used BookFunnel for the first time in January to deliver the free ebook of All the Words, and I am thrilled so far with how easy they make everything. There is a bit of a learning curve, but most things are quite clear. My favorite thing is that BookFunnel takes care of the customer support, so they can help readers get the book onto their preferred device. The Certified Mail tool allowed me to easily upload the email addresses of folks who signed up to beta read via the form on my website, and then write a message that included a link to download the book, instructions about how to access customer support, and a personalized message from me with a link to the Google doc I discussed above. I also sent a BCC message to the entire group directly from my email program, just in case the BookFunnel message went awry. I’ll also be able to use BookFunnel to send one reminder message a week before the deadline, and a follow-up email when the beta reading period ends. Second, my experience as a beta reader: You can read my detailed blog post about being a beta reader for Jane Steen on my website. It includes a Q&A with Jane that is full of helpful tips and insights. I participated in a second beta read for Jane this fall that was perhaps even more fun than the first. Her process is very different from that I described above and may be a better fit for you if you write fiction and/or you want to interact with readers and be able to ask them follow-up questions while they are reading. Jane uses BetaBooks as her tool to manage the process, and it is a great platform. I do think Jane’s process requires more hands-on time from her during the beta read itself, so that’s something to take into account. Next up for Novel Study: Planning and/or writing a few new chapters for the book and tackling more of those 60+ to-do items I have left to go.
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