What is a beta read? Do I need one? Where do I find a beta reader? These are questions I often hear these questions from authors at conferences or in online writer’s groups, and I am here to help answer them.

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 before you publish and before official reviews coming in. Your beta reader gives you feedback to guide you as you finish your draft or begin 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.

Who does your beta read determines how detailed the feedback will be. Often, authors receive feedback on story structure, characters, genre, and whether certain sections or plot directions keep readers engaged. 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

If you want more detailed feedback from a professional, you may want a manuscript evaluation. This service goes beyond a beta read. An editor completes it and offers feedback from both a reader’s and editor’s perspective.

The manuscript evaluation provides a report that shows what is or isn’t working and suggests your next editorial direction. Like the beta read, feedback addresses character development, plot, and story structure and will also include more details about dialogue, narrative flow, pacing, and the ending.

You receive a report that explains what is and isn’t working and in addition, a manuscript evaluation tells you what editorial direction you should go in next. For example, it evaluates whether your manuscript is ready for a developmental edit or if it is ready to skip ahead to copyediting. The written report provides you feedback but does not include in text comments, corrections, or revisions (that would be a developmental edit).

Content Editing

All of these services fall under 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 further. You come away with an in-depth report that recommends 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 receive suggestions and recommendations for changes in more detail rather than in a broad sense.

Beta reads and manuscript evaluations work well for manuscripts that are not yet complete or are still in the early drafting stages, especially if you want some feedback to keep you moving and help shape your story. The developmental edit works best for a manuscript that feels more complete and that you feel more confident about, but still want help shaping the content of the story.

Contact Me Today!

Wheeless Edits offers all three levels of content editing, and I’d love to help you shape your story! Contact me today to discuss what you and your manuscript need next.