Beta Readers

As an author...

You generally want readers to enjoy your book, right? So one way to test this, is with Beta Readers. You ask your friends, family members, acquaintances, and sometimes even random strangers to read a chapter or two (or the entire manuscript) to get their opinions, thoughts, suggestions, and comments. Overall, it's a great idea because readers will catch inconsistencies that made sense in your head but actually don't. Or will have questions that you thought you had answered, but hadn't. And more.

The Difficulty

The difficulty that arises with Beta Readers, is that they each want something different. No one reader is the same. And they all have great comments and suggestions, but in the end, you, as the author will have to pick and choose which ones fit where you want the story to go.

For example, I gave my first chapter to my best friend from high school, Travis, my brother Preston, another friend Yana, and a twitter beta reader, @AldersonShauna (who I highly recommend). 

All of them gave great feedback but sometimes, its contradicting. Here are two examples.

• One of them wanted a more action-packed intro or at least something more mysterious. So I write that.
• One reader liked it
• Another says it was good but either intro works for them
• While two say it didn't do much for them/confused them. 
• What intro do I go with?

• Another commented that the first chapter was too bogged down with background information. So I cut stuff out. 
• Two liked the shorter version
• One didn't even realize I had cut stuff out (is that a good sign?)
• And another felt like I was lacking details and not answering the readers questions. 
• How much details should I give?

All in All

I definitely recommend using Beta Readers, but just be careful to not get lost in the whirlwind of trying to please everyone. Because you can't. You, as the author, know where you want this story to go and how you want it to read, so take in all the comments and suggestions, don't get offended, and apply what you think fits your story.