My beta reader process has changed a lot since my first time doing it a few
years ago. Today I'll be sharing every single question I asked my
beta readers to get the feedback I'm looking for. [Intro Music]
The first time I did beta readers, I had over 20 questions for every section of the book. I
wanted to make sure I covered all my bases and got answers to the questions I was really looking for,
but I also had never done beta readers before, so I didn't know exactly what kind of feedback
I’d be getting, and so I didn't really know what to expect. The process was very involved
for everyone--it was definitely not smooth. I would send each beta reader one section of
the book at a time, and then afterwards I would ask them to message me on Facebook messenger for
an interview. Then I would proceed to ask them many a question about the section they read,
and all in all this took probably over an hour for each section for each beta reader.
Even though my beta team was pretty small, this was not a sustainable method. This just took
so much time for both the beta readers and myself, and even though I had a pretty small team of beta
readers, I would usually have two who are reading at the same time, and so one would always have to
wait on me for the interview. Thankfully I have since updated my process this time
around and is much easier for everyone. My goal for changing up the process was to make it as
simple as I can for the beta readers, while still getting all the information I needed from them.
First off I just gave them all one document to work and review in for the entire process.
This removed the need for the interview, and I also pared down the number of questions by a lot.
It’s easier now that I know exactly what I’m looking for, and what kind of feedback I actually
need from beta readers. So I split the book into 12 sections this time around and each one had
10 to 13 questions per section. I had some questions that I asked every single time,
as well as mixing in a few that were specific to the events or characters of that section.
Alright so for every single section I ask the following questions: 1. "What are your initial
thoughts on the section?" I always ask this first because I want to give them a place right
after they finish reading to leave whatever their thoughts are at the moment. Surprisingly this is a
really helpful question. Next I ask "Did anything feel rushed or too slow?" Pacing is something
difficult for me to judge sometimes, so I always want to get their input on this as well. Next
"What did you enjoy and dislike?" "Was anything confusing or unclear?" "On a scale of 0 to 10,
how would you rate this section?" This one I’m not really able to use in my edits until most,
if not all, of the beta readers have finished. Often if it's a lower number but there aren't
any specifics as to why, this tells me there's something in here that was boring or repetitive
that I need to go back and fix. This can also be a sign of there just being rougher writing or
poorly written sentences here that slowed them down or made it less enjoyable to read.
Next I ask "What needs improvements?" and "Do you have any theories or predictions about what
will happen next?" This one is super important to me because of plot twists. I really need to know
if beta readers see them coming or not. And the last question that is included in every section
is "Do you have any other notes?" This one is always at the very end of the questions.
Then for each section I have about five questions that are specific to the events and characters
happening there. For example I ask questions like "What did you think about x character?" "What did
you think of blank scene?" "How do you feel about y and z's relationship?" "Do you feel like the
magic in this section was explained well?" "How do you think x is handling this situation?" "Did this
section have any emotional impact?" so I chose these questions as I was making my final round
of edits before beta readers. I had to be careful not to accidentally give things away by asking too
much about one character or event, but for the most part it's a pretty straightforward process
of just figuring out which characters and events I need feedback on. Some of my questions were also
chosen because of CP feedback, or developmental editing changes that were made along the way.
If there was something that I worked on a lot or changed in a lot of different ways,
then that's usually something that'll make it into my beta reader questions.
And then finally at the end of everything I had one long questionnaire about the book as a
whole. So about the characters I asked: "Which characters did you notice changing/developing
throughout the story?" "Which characters did you like and dislike and why?" "When the story
flipped between this character and that character, which one were you more excited to get back to?"
"What did you think about the main character's developments? Did they make sense for them?"
"How did this character come off to you? Did you like how they were written? And then I asked
the same question about two other characters. Last for characters I just asked if they have
any other thoughts on characters that they want to mention. Then these are the questions that I asked
about story: "What parts of the story were your favorite and least favorite and why?" "Did the
characters choices feel logical and appropriate for the situations?" "Was the wrap up satisfying?"
"Did the final scene incite curiosity about what happens next?" and then "Were there any loose ends
you felt weren't tied up at the end?" Then about setting I asked: "How did the world of Olexia
feel to you?" "Were any world building elements confusing or too complicated?" "Were any of the
settings hard to picture, or not described well?" and then finally I ask a few general questions:
"What would make the book better/what do you wish was different?" "What do you think this
book should be titled?" "What do you think will happen in the next book/rest of the series?"
"What, if anything, are you most interested to learn about in the next books? Characters, events,
places, etc." Do you think the book should have a pronunciation guide? What about an appendix?"
"If the series were to become audiobooks, do you think the narrator should be male or female? Which
do you usually prefer?" and then lastly "is there anything else you'd like to say about the book?"
From the writer’s side of things, beta reading is an interesting process. So I have a couple
more videos on the topic lined up for YouTube in the next few weeks. If you'd like to dive into
the world of Olexia, you can check out Age of the Gods, which is a free short story I have available
on my website, linked down below. All right that's all I've got for you, so thanks for watching. Bye!
[Outro Music]