What Is A Beta Read? Do I Need One?
What is a beta read? Do I need one? Where do I find a beta reader? These are questions I often hear from authors at conferences or in online writer’s groups and I am here to help.
First let’s ask a few questions:
* Are you looking for feedback on a draft you are writing or have just finished?
* Are you wondering if your story is good enough to share?
* Are you asking yourself where your story should go next?
If you answered yes to any of these questions you might be ready for a beta reader (or a manuscript evaluation).
Beta Read
A beta read gives you feedback from readers on your story before you are ready to publish and see the official reviews coming in. The feedback your beta reader has for you is solely for you to use as a guide while you complete your draft or begin to do some self editing.
Your beta reader can be someone informal, such as a family member, friend, or acquaintance in a writer’s feedback group. A beta reader can also be someone who works with manuscripts professionally, such as an editor.
The level of detail in the feedback you receive will be determined by who is doing your beta read. Often an author will receive feedback on the story structure, characters, genre, and how engaging certain sections or plot directions are. This is reader based feedback, meaning you are receiving feedback from the mind of a reader.
As an editor I offer beta reads for authors in their early drafting stages. I provide a few pages of written feedback to my authors along with a copy of their manuscript with my highlights. This is a great way to get feedback to help guide you on your way to completing your story, editing your manuscript, or gaining insight into whether your story is engaging to readers.
Manuscript Evaluation
In contrast, if you are looking for more detailed feedback by a professional you may seek out a manuscript evaluation. This is a step above a beta read; it is completed by an editor and provides more detailed feedback from the mind of a reader and that of an editor.
The manuscript evaluation will provide a report delving into what is or isn’t working as well as suggestions for editorial direction. Like the beta read, feedback will address character development, plot, and story structure and will also include more details about dialogue, narrative flow, pacing, and the ending.
You will receive a report sharing what is and isn’t working and in addition, a manuscript evaluation will tell you what editorial direction you should go in next. For example, it will evaluate whether your manuscript is ready for a developmental edit or if it is ready to skip ahead to copyediting. The written report will provide you feedback but does not include in text comments, corrections, or revisions (that would be a developmental edit).
Content Editing
These are all types of content editing. Editing the content of your manuscript before you are ready to get down to the nitty gritty of copyediting. Developmental editing takes this process to an even higher level, you will come away from a developmental edit with an in depth report that will share recommendations for additions, deletions, and relocations. You will get in text comments and notes using Microsoft Word’s Track Changes. What sets a developmental edit apart is that you will receive suggestions and recommendations for changes in more detail rather than in a broad sense.
Beta reads and manuscript evaluations are great for manuscripts that are not yet completed or are in very early draft stages and you want some feedback to keep you going and help shape your story. The developmental edit is geared more towards a manuscript you feel is a bit more complete and you are more confident in but would like some help shaping the content of the story.
Contact Me Today!
Wheeless Edits offers all three levels of content editing. I cannot wait to help you shape your story! Contact me today to discuss what you and your manuscript need next.