How to Write a Novel: Beta readers, specialist readers, and sensitivity readers
Professional editors approach your manuscript with a critical eye based on their knowledge of language, story structure, and genre. But sometimes, it’s a good idea to gain perspective from readers who are not experts on sentence structure or grammar, but comment on the story itself, and their experience of reading it as a whole.
Beta readers
Beta readers are a trusted group of people who evaluate your book from a reader’s perspective before publication. The term comes from the software industry, where early versions are tested in beta before being released to the public.
While there are some paid beta reader services, many authors find people from their existing readership, or from among genre fans in the writing community. Authors usually thank their beta readers in their acknowledgments.
Specialist readers
Specialist readers are experts on a particular topic who read with their expertise in mind. This might be a police officer who checks a crime novel, or a physicist who reads for a science-fiction author.
Sensitivity readers
Sensitivity readers check for cultural and diversity issues, lack of or clichéd representation, and insensitive, inauthentic, or uninformed language, characters, or situations.
This type of feedback can help an author before publication, and can be particularly useful if you are tackling more controversial topics. It can also be valuable when reviewing older manuscripts if you want to republish a new edition, as gendered language has changed, as well as the need for representation, diversity, and inclusivity.
While some criticize sensitivity reading as a step toward censorship, most authors want to make their books the best they can be, and ensure the reader experience is excellent, whatever the genre. Being a fiction writer is also about empathy — with our characters and with our readers — so improving our ability to write about diverse characters is important.
However, authors cannot be experts on what it’s like to experience every race or religion, every body type or disability or mental health issue, or understand every country or culture. Feedback from different kinds of readers can help us write better stories, and it is the author’s choice whether to implement suggestions in the final manuscript.
Do you need all of these types of readers?
No. You don’t need any of them, or you can choose to use some of them for different books, depending on the need.
It’s up to you (and your agent or publisher if you choose to go that route).
At what stage in the editorial process should you use these types of readers?
The book should be as close to the final version as possible. These people are reading with fresh eyes; if they read again later, they can never approach the story with such an open mind.
Most authors will send the manuscript to a select group of readers after the main editorial revisions, but before the proofread. Some authors with more developed careers even use their team of beta readers instead of editors at different stages of the process.
What should you provide to readers?
Provide the manuscript in the format the reader prefers. This could be an MS Word document or PDF. Many established authors use Bookfunnel, which allows you to create a version that can be read on any reading device or phone.
Specialist readers and sensitivity readers have their specific expertise, but for more general beta readers, you need to provide some direction as to what you expect. For example:
• Did you skip over anything? Did anything bore you?
• Was anything confusing? Did you have to reread any parts?
• What did you like?
• Was there anything you hated or objected to or had a problem with?
How long should you give them to read?
Allow at least two weeks for readers to assess and provide feedback. Be clear on the timeline when you send them the book.
Do you need to make all the changes they suggest?
No, and if you try to, you will end up straying from your creative goal, messing up your author voice, and likely pleasing no one!
Keep your number of early readers small and specific to what you want to achieve. Assess each comment and suggestion on its own merit and decide whether or not to make the change.
Be confident in your creative vision and beware writing by committee, which becomes a problem if you ask too many people for feedback. Only you can decide what you want for your novel.
Questions:
• What kind of readers might be useful for your manuscript?
• Where will you find these readers?
• How do you hope to improve the manuscript from this feedback?
• How will you assess whether to make the changes?
Resources:
• The Reedsy marketplace includes different kinds of editors, beta readers, and sensitivity readers — www.TheCreativePenn.com/reedsy
• Directory of sensitivity readers — www.writingdiversely.com/directory
• Editors of Color — editorsofcolor.com
