My [Updated] Beta Reader Process // a few things have changed, # of beta readers, feedback, and more

[@angelcitygirl]

For writers out there - please be careful with your Betas readers. Its fine to have feedback but make sure they don't impede your creative process. They are readers and that is their perspective. Writers are creating something and looking at it in a completely different aspect.

[@suereimer7505]

I love the idea of having a questionnaire ever few chapters! I usually have some questions for my readers before they start but hadn’t thought of adding in a series of questions as they read the manuscript. Such a great idea! Thanks!

[@BethanyAtazadeh]

Yay! I'm so glad it was helpful! :D

[@wordwriter]

This is so helpful! One question I have is -- do you ever worry that beta readers might modify or omit some of their honest feedback because they see feedback already left by a different beta reader? (When working in Google Docs)

[@claudiagusenleitner]

I see the selection on your bookshelf. You’re my person now.

[@lesleybarklay798]

I'm doing Publish and Thrive and I loved Sarra's comments about using Google docs so that the betas can also interact with each other's feedback too. I definitely think doing it this way would be far less cumbersome.

[@BethanyAtazadeh]

Exactly! I was wary of that but I think it was one of Sarra's videos that made me give it a try too, and I really like it! :D

[@ingfrida]

Loving this! I hope to soon start preparing for betas so this came at a perfect moment for me! Unrelated to the content, but you're glowing in this video! That hair-wave is just * *chef's kiss* *

[@BethanyAtazadeh]

Aww you're the sweetest, thank you Ingrid! And hope you have a blast working with betas, it's one of my favorite parts of the process! :D

[@SennaCrow]

Turn all the text to medium gray and you'll save your eyes and your ink. I started doing that instead of just small font. It helps tremendously. Also, the ecotank printers don't have waterproof ink, but they are AMAZING for cheap bulk printing, which is perfect for this sort of work. Just be aware that highlighters will smudge it, lol. If that isn't much of an issue, then it's an awesome extra tip.

[@BethanyAtazadeh]

nice!

[@meganrobinson6858]

Wow. I use nothing but google docs and knowing about the forms to use for your questionnaire was super helpful! ❤ thank you so much for sharing that because I never knew about that. Why has no one else talked about that?

[@cruisingkoala1423]

Aww! Howdy, Penny. You're pretty awesome. 😃

[@rachelrobertson7353]

Learning how we want our work edited and all that is definitely a process - but I absolutely love how you’ve refined and organized your beta reader process! Using a single GoogleDoc and the Forms is a brilliant idea. I might have to borrow that when I’m at that point. 😜

[@SDHuston]

Great update to the Beta reader process! Thank you 💙

[@BethanyAtazadeh]

Thank you so much!

[@The_WriterVerse]

Thanks for sharing this! When I’ve beta read, it’s always been a word document and I couldn’t leave comments. By the time I got to the questionnaire, all the questions I had were forgotten. Google docs is the way to go. Another idea for compiling questions, I add the questionnaire to the end of the document or section and list my readers names under each question. From there they highlight their own name and answer the question as a comment. That way I’m not having to transfer anything! Keep sharing your process! I love watching these videos. So helpful ♥️

[@BethanyAtazadeh]

Yesss haha! I feel bad for everyone who went through my old process because those issues were so real! So glad this was helpful! :D

[@notnow6946]

Be careful as this is not a panacea. As someone who has had writers moving and editing chunks of text while I'm beta reading a story in Google Doc, I now no longer accept to beta read anything beside Word. You can't imagine how lost a reader feels when they try to come back to where they left off and they can't find it. And the explanation? "Oh I've moved it to beginning and made some changes so can you go back and reread the first three chapters and give me new feedback?" Some people have no etiquette. Can you let us know why you couldn't leave comments? It's a pretty basic Word feature. Or was it that the writers didn't want you to leave comments?

[@lesleybarklay798]

@@notnow6946 I don't think that's a problem with Google docs, so much as a problem with the author making edits during the beta reading process. I imagine in a perfect scenario, the author "hands off" the document (so to speak) to the betas for a specified period of time, and only goes back in and makes edits once the betas are finished. (Or, I suppose, once all betas have answered the questions and commented on each specific chapter.)

[@notnow6946]

@@lesleybarklay798 I'm not raining on anyone's parade, just pointing out issues that I've come across. It becomes an author/Google Doc problem when this is an option that is only available in G docs and not in word. I do a lot of beta reading and this has happened more than once. I even asked an author if they could hold off until I was done but they ignored my request and kept moving text around. If authors upload to Google docs with the understanding that it's a doc for beta readers and not for them to perform their editing in during the reading, which is usually on deadline, then that's fine. Folks come in all strokes. The same way I don't like another's reader's opinion influencing my comments, some readers want to interact with an author or other readers while reading. The point being, there is no one size fits all.

[@tymbooks6376]

You can also do a second round of beta readers if you have too many. That way, they won't all focus on the same things. I always do two rounds of beta readers of at least 3 people... Took me a couple books to figure out that hidden gem. 😍 Love your videos! I love google docs as well!

[@BethanyAtazadeh]

That's a great tip, I completely agree! Thank you so much!

[@nelsbookishways1550]

The google forms idea is AWESOME! I'm wondering if you can do, even he individual beta feedback on that as well, so it can be compiled together the same way as the questionnaire! I'm editing to get ready for betas, and it'll be my first round, so I am trying to figure out the best way, and yours makes sooo much sense!

[@thejoanzone140]

I'm super excited because I just scored a book club to beta read for me. I'm giddy to think a group of 5 potential readers will read & discuss my manuscript. I got 2 more from Twitter from the UK. And I have 2 friends. I actually didn't think I had enough. Good to know the number is good.

[@BethanyAtazadeh]

That's awesome! :D

[@sofiamidwinter7501]

Thanks for another great video Bethany, and also, for reminding me to try google forms! It's because to your old video that my beta reading process is what it is today, and after watching this you gave me more ideas on how to improve it. ^_^

[@BethanyAtazadeh]

Yay! I'm so glad it was helpful! :D

[@jeremyfee]

This was a great update! It's always wonderful to hear what you've learned from your process over the years. :)

[@BethanyAtazadeh]

Thanks so much!

[@armanisar-feinial1789]

Never thought of a questionnaire. I'll be utilizing this more often.

[@BethanyAtazadeh]

so glad it was helpful!

[@armanisar-feinial1789]

@@BethanyAtazadeh Next time around. . .probably around Novemberish when I do my own writers retreat!

[@mrslilivincent]

Love al the updates to this process. Your original videos helped me so much! When I ran my first round of Betas for this first novel I put everything in google docs and forms. I did create a separate doc for each Beta because I couldn't figure out how to make the comments "private" so other people's comments didn't influence other Beta readers. I started with 12 betas and 9 finished and that was STILL a lot of info to process! How did you make the comments private so only you could read them?

[@freefallingintograce4634]

This is fantastic, thank you Bethany! So nice to meet Penny too! 😊💖Do you share the book with the beta readers before sending it to the editor? Thanks! Natalya

[@BethanyAtazadeh]

Yay I'm so glad! I definitely do beta readers before my editor. They actually replace my need for a developmental editor completely, and I only do a copy editor later on (aka the more technical edits). If you want to know more about when I work with betas, I would definitely recommend my other beta reader videos in the description! :)

[@freefallingintograce4634]

@@BethanyAtazadeh Thank you so much Bethany! Yes! Binge watched them all last night. Went to bed at 2 am happy, well informed, with a big smile on my face. Thank you so much for sharing everything you're learning! 🌺🥰

[@jonathansuarez7464]

You have a nice and cutest dogs 🐕💕 and I love the ways you do it on your Google spreadsheet papers step by step and its very neat and professional

[@BethanyAtazadeh]

thank you!

[@katiemarie8580]

Love this! I did two rounds of beta reading for my book, the first time doing a separate Word document for each person with questions after different sections of chapters and no comments, and the second time doing a separate Google docs for each person with comments. But having it all in one document sounds awesome! Do you know if the beta readers are notified every time anyone comments or are you the only one? I wouldn't want to spam them lol. XP

[@sydneyo]

Hi! I've used Google Docs a lot for alpha and beta reading, so I think I could be of some help. You are the only one who gets an email every time someone comments, but if someone is replying to a comment, then the initial person (and others who are involved on that thread) will be notified via email of the reply. I'm pretty sure you can also adjust the settings for notifications, but I don't know off the top of my head.

[@katiemarie8580]

@@sydneyo Ok, thank you so much!

[@BethanyAtazadeh]

Such a good question! I think Sydney might be right, but I think betas can also update their notification settings to turn them on (technically I think everyone can update this setting to their preference)! So everyone could have notifications turned on or off, depending on what they want! :)

[@katiemarie8580]

@@BethanyAtazadeh Ok, good to know! Thank you!

[@jlslipak1483]

I'm fine with Google docs, but I wonder if there are others who have no idea how to set up the doc for betas. Would you consider showing how you do this? Step by step?

[@BethanyAtazadeh]

I don't think so, just because I'm not an expert in google docs by any means haha! I have a feeling there are far better tutorials out there already than anything I could do (and honestly I just put my word doc directly into the doc, and add a little note to the betas at the top like you saw in the video, I don't do anything special :)

[@pattyellis5359]

WOW! That is a lot of work, and much love, to go into each book and all those questions. All in all, I am glad to see what good results comes from working hard on the book. Just wondering, are your Beta Reader good friends of yours? Or do you pay some to read your manuscript book?

[@BethanyAtazadeh]

Thank you! :) And I have never paid for beta readers, but I have also never met most of my betas in real life before either - they're people I met on the internet who graciously signed up to beta read out of the goodness of their heart! :) (I talk about this a lot more in my video on finding beta readers that I put in the description bar if you want to know more!)

[@Darkinkpublication]

could you do a video on how you did the copy and paste into the left to right? I couldn't figure it out

[@Plumbobi]

The way you set up your betas on Google docs...can each of the beta readers see each other's comments? Or does everyone only see their comments/edits?

[@kristengwenwriter]

Hi, Bethany! Thank you so much for this playlist. As I'm gearing up to do my first time working with beta readers, these videos have been invaluable. My question is about mentioning copyright to the betas. I feels weird to me, like I'm telling my betas I don't trust them and that I'm sure they are going to steal my work. Have you encountered that? Do any of them have an issue with it? Thanks so much!

[@BethanyAtazadeh]

I don't think so, but if you don't want to, then don't bother. :) It's not a requirement, just my process.

[@kristengwenwriter]

@@BethanyAtazadeh Thank you!

[@mariavalente6304]

how can I, on google docs, hide the comments from one beta from the other?

[@BethanyAtazadeh]

I don't believe you can within the same document, you would have to do separate documents

[@maimarcuzzi5408]

This video came up just in time! I'm planing to do my first round of beta readers (ever) in October, and this helps a lot! ❤ I was wondering how many time should you give them to read the book? Would it be annoying for them if you set a limit for a month?

[@BethanyAtazadeh]

Yay! I'm so glad! If you mean do you ask them to read by a certain deadline, then 100% yes - watch all my other videos on beta readers in the description for more on that, I talk about that more there! :)

[@maimarcuzzi5408]

@@BethanyAtazadeh thank you so much ❤❤

[@matthewmusgrave6673]

What if I'm 2/3 done with my story and still don't know what genre it fits into?

[@jshorter3303]

Very Helpful!

[@BethanyAtazadeh]

Yay! I'm so glad! :D

[@SamA-uu2kq]

So what would be the best place to find authentic beta reader. I have no one as such around me. I'm working on my first book. Since childhood I've wanted to hold my own book in my hands and now I've finally decided to do that and all I want, since forever, is too see people feeling emotionally connected to the stories I tell.

[@andyontheinternet5777]

I put one facebook post out for both of my books and got lots of beta readers from old friends. I also found a few decent betas on Goodreads. I had mehh experiences on reddit and facebook pages dedicated to beta reading.

[@a.j.houser2795]

I don't have family or friends who are willing to read my book and give feed back. what is your opinion of the best way to find trust worthy beta readers?

[@teachermom2509]

Do you use beta readers in place of a developmental editor? Or do you use both?

[@BethanyAtazadeh]

My betas help with all developmental edits, as well as my critique partners.

[@megankirrmann6624]

Food test group.....leads to food poisoning...I am scared 😳 here!!!

[@BethanyAtazadeh]

LOL I would hope not, never had that problem