What Are Beta Readers and Where Can You Find Them?

After you finish your story, there is a high likelihood that you will need multiple edits before your story is as good as it can be. Most people first give their story to family or close friends whose job is to look for glaring typos and grammar errors. These people are called alpha readers. When your story is closer to where you want to start farming it around for paid editors or submitting it for publication it’s a good idea to look for beta readers. They’re not absolutely necessary, but can be very helpful in the process.

The job of a beta reader is not to look for missed typos (though they certainly should keep an eye out), instead they’re looking for everything from awkward sentences to problems with voice, pacing, side plots or even the main plot. If your alpha readers haven’t already identified areas that they think are boring, your beta reader likely will.

Finding a beta reader can sometimes be hard, but if you look around you may find searching easier than you think. There are a couple of things to keep in mind.

First, know the difference between Beta reading and reviews. Beta reading is part of the process of editing your work and may involve the beta reader going through your manuscript multiple times. During reviews someone reads your book once when your book is on pre-order or after it has been…