On Beta Readers

Where to find them, and how to guide them

In late September 2025, I finished the final draft of my new adult fantasy novel. It was a weird feeling to finally be ‘done’ after all the work I put into it, all the edits I had made, the changes to plot, pacing, characters. When the giddy feeling of having finished the final draft of my novel passed, I was left with a question:

What now?

I knew I wanted to send my novel to agents as soon as possible, because the publishing industry is slow as it is, but I wanted it to be as good as it can be, as you only have one chance of presenting your novel to an agent.

I had already worked with a professional editor who helped me shape the story and characters to their full potential, but editors look at your novel in terms of craft, while beta readers look at it as… readers. Where the editor shows you how to elevate your themes, your beta readers tell you where your novel is exciting, frustrating, or where it loses tension. Where they get emotional, which characters they relate to, and how your novel’s intentions come across.

Having gone through the beta-reading process, I would never recommend anyone to skip it.

Me in one of the many wonderful Edinburgh bookshops 📚

1. How to find beta-readers?

It is very tempting to send your novel to all of your family and friends and ask for feedback.

One big issue with asking people you know to be beta readers is that reading your novel might not be their top priority. Life gets in the way, people are busy, and especially if they are non-writers, they might not relate to the anxiety when waiting for feedback on such an intimate piece of work. Consider whether your relationship with that person can handle missed deadlines, harsh feedback, or no feedback at all. The people who love you might try to protect you by sugarcoating or coddling, or try tough love, when what you really need is insightful, critical, and kind feedback.

Another thing is, not everyone is suitable as a beta reader. Now, that might sound harsh, but consider this: Do you think somebody who only reads horror is going to buy your romance novel? Maybe, but probably not.

Genre expectations differ wildly, and with them, reader taste. Send your novel to people who read similar things to your novel, because they know the market and their feedback will be the most insightful. That doesn’t mean you can’t send it to anyone who doesn’t read the genre, as that feedback can be valuable in its own way, but keep it to one or two people.

Ideally, you send your novel to other writers or people who are familiar with writing on a technical level. They will be able to give you more detailed insight into plot issues, pacing, or character flaws, as well as mistakes you make in your prose, which casual readers might not catch up on.

If you don’t know any writers, Reddit might be the place to look. On the r/BetaReaders subreddit, people share their work, often to swap with other writers. This might be useful if you need feedback urgently, as they want their feedback as quickly as you want yours.

2. Send it to more people than you think you need.

Personally, I think getting feedback from 3 to 5 people is a good amount. That means you reduce the risk of 50% of your beta readers having the exact opposite opinion as the other half, but you don’t have the input of too many people to the point that the feedback can get overwhelming. I recommend: If you want five critiques, send it to at least seven people. No matter how dedicated your group of beta readers is, something will most likely come up and make a few of them unable to provide you with feedback in time.

That being said, I sent my novel to a total of 10 people back then. I received detailed feedback from three of them, less detailed feedback from two more, and general feedback from a couple more, which did not help me as much.

For my next novel, I’m aiming to send the draft to 7 to 10 people again, as I think that’s a good number.

3. Beta guidelines

Now, let’s talk about the rules. First of all: set a deadline.

That is not only beneficial for your readers to plan their reading time accordingly, but also for you as a writer to be able to move forward eventually, even if not all of your beta readers have submitted their feedback.

Editing your novel will take time to begin with, and the rest of the feedback may come in once you are already editing and you can see what is beneficial for you, and what isn’t.

Second: send them your questions.

Now, while you might want to ask them what their favourite character in your novel is, try to think about what will give you the most merit when going to edit. Are there pacing issues? Any chapters you are unhappy with, but can’t figure out what the issue is? Does your world make sense to them?

Third: Colour coding.

Red: This doesn’t make sense.

Blue: Boring, unnecessary, or slows down the pace.

Purple: Anything else you want insight on.

For the third colour, I asked my beta readers to notify me of places the writing reads too YA, as I wanted to move my novel into New Adult territory, as well as weak prose, or anything they wanted me to know.

Will all of your beta readers adhere to this system? Probably not, but even if a few of them do, it will be helpful for you to go through the document and be able to immediately notice overlaps in highlighting.

Definitely invite your beta readers to give more insight into their comments and colour coding. A whole paragraph highlighted in red doesn’t help much if you don’t know what isn’t working.

4. How to read the feedback

You have done all of the above, have waited patiently (or anxiously) for feedback, and FINALLY, you receive your first response from one of your readers. Opening the document and seeing all of the comments, the corrections, confusion, and reactions can be overwhelming, and if you aren’t careful, the comments can fuel self-doubt and make you question if you should never write a word again (or maybe that’s just me).

At the end of the day, it is your story, and you get to decide what to include and what to leave out. That being said, if a majority of your beta readers point out a flaw in your novel, it’s safe to assume there is a real issue that needs fixing. And if three of your five beta-readers point out the same problem in your novel and offer a solution, but you can think of an even better one, then go with your heart.

You wrote this, and you get to decide how to work with feedback.

You don’t have to include every single comment in your edits, as sometimes readers misunderstand, forget things that have been mentioned before, etc. However, certain comments can point you towards bigger issues with plot, characters, or prose, which you might want to have a look at.

I think a good rule of thumb is: If more than one person points it out, it needs fixing.

It might sting at first, especially if it’s about something you thought you had done well, so take time to step away from the comments, get some distance, and digest them before throwing yourself back into the editing process.

That will be all from me today. Conveniently, I finished the second draft of my novel today and am going to send it to beta readers this weekend, so I will be taking my own advice in this post!

How are your projects coming along? Any other tips on beta readers? Let me know!