When Should You Use Beta Readers?
BY JL COPELAND
When should you use beta readers?
In short, much later than you think.
Music for this post? Well, I’m going to have to reach for the familiar again.
The end, finally.
I’d like to thank my long-suffering wife, my neglected kids…
No, I haven’t won that Oscar I was wet-dreaming about in this post.
On Monday, at long last, I sent my debut novel, Nicksgate out to my Beta readers.
Beta readers —in case you’re unfamiliar with the term— are willing readers you send your writing to and who reply with constructive feedback/or possibly tear your hopeless hacking to bits.
This is huge for me. These are the first people to read the finished story.
Yes, I am bricking it.
Last Thursday, I thought the book was ready to send.
‘I’ll just have one last look-through.’
“One last look through” turned into three 12-hour sessions sat at my desk, making another 1000+ changes.
I have been known to exaggerate, but for once, those numbers above are straight down the line.
I am exhausted.
Shout out to my wife, who took the kids out of the house for the whole weekend with the instructions to me of, ‘Just get it done.’
Get it done, I did.
And now we wait.
I know, of course, it’s not really the end. But we’re getting there. I’ll get the betas’ feedback, incorporate it into the manuscript, and then it will be ready to send out to a professional editor or, possibly, agents.
My wife asked last night, “So now that you’ve sent it off, how long are you going to take a break for?”
A break?
Ha.
Hahahaha.
Ahahahaahahaha.
Was that a joke, my little cabbage? Look at me, I’m 45, I’m already half-way to The End; most importantly, I still don’t have any legacy (published books) to leave behind.
I don’t have time for breaks.
Huh? No, of course kids don’t count as a legacy. What are you, simple?
When should you use beta readers?
Well, take all of what follows with a pinch of salt, but in my experience, this is what works.
For me, there are two points at which you can use beta readers.
I have seen people asking
At what point should I use beta readers?
And people responding,
After the first or second draft.
Don’t do this. This is terrible advice.
For many people, most of what is in your first or second draft will be unrecognizable come the seventh or eighth.
How much of Nicksgate’s first or second draft is in the final version I’ve just sent out to beta readers? I’d guess 20-30%, tops. The rickets-riven bones of the story from that first draft are still there, but the meat has almost completely changed.
For example:
Point of view? Third has been switched to first.
The reason behind the main character’s crippling fear has changed.
A second major character, whose story took up 30% of the book (almost every other chapter), has been cut to a minor character who only appears in the final act.
Two, possibly three (I lose track) important characters have been added.
The opening chapter and the ending are completely different.
Etc. etc.
You’ve got to understand, if you let people in on your story too early, it’s going to mess you (and it) up. Chances are that the feedback will discourage you or, at worst, make you think your ideas for this story weren’t so hot after all, and you abandon it. Your ideas are fine, they simply need work.
Or possibly, even, even worse, you give it to family and friends who tell you it’s the best story they’ve ever read, you believe you’re the next Hemingway, and whap it up on Amazon to bafflement at the inevitable tumbleweed-riding crickets. You then convince yourself that Jeff Bezos—and the rest of the world—is out to get you, tie a typewriter to your leg and jump from a log flume into the murky depths in a desperate cry for help/self-promotion.
We’ve all been there.
Oh… maybe that’s just me.
Anyway, if it’s your first time, I get it. You wrote a book! You’re proud! You want other people to read it and tell you it’s brilliant! You want to whip out a pair of pistols, fire them in the air and do a little jig!
But again, just hold on. Holster those pistols before you shoot someone (more than likely, yourself).
You’re satisfied with the story, yet you admit it: it could still be improved. But, alas, you are not sure exactly where those upgrades are required. You need other eyes on it. That’s when you need beta readers.
For a lot of people, this happens around the fourth or fifth draft. And that is when your budget comes into play.
If you’ve got the funds, I would strongly recommend sending the story out to a developmental editor at this stage. These guys are pros and will get down to the nitty-gritty of what is working and what isn’t.
But yeah, they tend to cost upwards of $500, so not for everyone (there’s also something called a manuscript assessment, which is cheaper, but the feedback is less detailed).
If you’re broke, this is when beta readers can be a useful alternative. Ideally, one or two of them will also be writers, who can hopefully spot things casual readers cannot (or at least can articulate the problems in writer-speak and/or suggest possible fixes).
The second point at which I would recommend using beta readers (and this is where I use them) is when you feel you are completely done.
You’ve done seven or eight drafts.
You’ve revised and polished.
You’ve printed it out, read it aloud, underlined bits that feel off, and polished it again.
You’ve put it through an editor like ProWriting Aid, checked the spelling, grammar, close repeats, cliches, weak verbs etc.
You’ve checked all of your nouns are specific (e.g. not ‘trees’ but Oaks, Sycamores, not ‘birds’ but blackbirds, lapwings etc.)
You’ve gone through it again, checking every chapter, then scene, then paragraph, then sentence, opens and closes strongly.
You’ve done all this and much, much more. You can’t see how you could improve another word.
And, let’s be honest, you’re absolutely sick to death of the damn thing. Maybe you even hate it.
You’ve finally lost all objectivity.
This is when I recommend sending it out to beta readers. For me, beta readers are the final check before you begin the publication process.
Do you get beta readers before or after editing?
Always before editing.
When you send the manuscript to the editor, there should be nothing left to do. The betas will have responded, and because of all the work above you’ve (hopefully) done, there should only be a few minor tweaks which you need to fix before you send it to an editor.
You don’t want your editor wasting their time fixing things that you can do yourself; you want to really force them to use their skills to spot the things only someone with their level of expertise can spot.
And yes, despite your tireless polishing, proofreading and chucking it through ProWritingAid a dozen times, everyone needs to get their novel professionally edited (whether it be on your own or your publisher’s buck).
Do authors pay their beta readers?
I would say no.
If you’re shooting for wholly independent opinions, you can find people on sites such as Fiverr, but it’s not cheap. For casual readers, you’ll pay $15+ (I’ve used a couple of these in the past, and their feedback was half a dozen bullet points and not particularly helpful). For people on there who do this for a living (and, I assume, give more detailed feedback (I don’t know, never used them)) $50+ .
But I would strongly suggest using people around you. If they are writers or avid readers of your genre, great. But if not, as long as they are people you trust, they’ll be fine. Ultimately, it’s the reader’s experience of your book that counts. If they genuinely enjoy it and can’t put it down, you’re practically done.
If, like me, you are completely broke AND a social hermit, you can find people on social media to make up the numbers (I put a post on Facebook and had a dozen replies). StoryOrigin also has a beta reader service (in 2026, one month’s membership is $10).
You don’t need loads of betas. I am using three for Nicksgate. Fortunately, two are writer friends, and the last I recruited from Facebook (but I had met her before through acting work, so trust her).
Three is probably the minimum (if there’s a split opinion on something, you avoid ties). But seven is plenty; any more and you might get confused or even overwhelmed with comments and criticisms.
Remember, you don’t have to react to every comment or suggestion they make. Sometimes, people get it wrong. But if several betas are all saying the same thing, then yeah, you should probably fix that.
If you have any questions about beta readers, hit me up in the comments below.
But just to reiterate: If you think your story is ready to send out to beta readers, first ask yourself if your manuscript is truly the best it can be.
And if it isn’t?
Well, you know what to do.
Keep going, and you WILL get there, I promise.
Speak soon,
JL
PS: You want more writing tips? Check out my top five pieces of advice for writers. Part one is HERE.
PPS: For free stories, advice and insights on the writing life as well as funny/fuck*d-up tales from a forty-something charlatan, trying to tunnel out of Korea, one word at a time, sign up for the newsletter: