The Quality of Alpha or Beta Readers

The Quality of Alpha or Beta Readers
by The BookTown Team

The joy of having a book published is the experience that every writer would love to go through at one moment in their lives. When writing a book most writes prefer to have the book proof read by people who are not close associates and can critique genuinely without anything to loose. Alpha or Beta readers would be the best option in this case.

An alpha or beta reader also known as a pre-reader or critique, is a non-professional reader who reads a written work, generally fiction, with the intent of looking over the material to find and improve elements such as grammar and spelling, as well as suggestions to improve the story, its characters, or its setting. Beta reading is done before the story is released for public consumption. Therefore, imploring criticism from beta readers is ones chance of addressing the weak spots of any manuscript before it is published and shared with the world.

Since Beta readers are so helpful to a writer mostly self- publishing writers, getting the right team can be tricky. So make sure that any of your family members or best friends are not part of the team. They tend to imagine that they should love everything you write be it good or bad and this does not help in improving the book. The people who would prove better quality alpha or beta readers would be:

• Acquaintances. This is because People close to you can jumble through some sections or sentences trying to understand what you meant. That will never give you any useful feedback. Always choose people who do not know you too well to figure out your meaning.
• Someone from your target audience would also come in handy. If the book is not speaking to your readers, then you’re not going to vendany copies of the book and yet the essence of writing most of the time is selling.
• People who are not afraid of being brutally honest with you the writer. This is because you need positive and constructive feedback.
• People who are reliable. This seems obvious, since the beta readers most of the time are not being paid, they will always have to choose working on a regular job that is paying than read a book.  Always make sure they communicate when they are available to read and communicate with you often.

There is no ideal number of beta readers recomemneded ,though it should be noted that you will need more than one reader so as to give you an unbiased opinion. The most apporiate number is three to five.
 After then you notice that you need the alpha or beta readers, Lookout for people who will fit the chosen criteria.  You can also use your social media platforms, request book clubs and any other clubs that you could be a member of. You should not be afraid of asking for help.
We all being humans, even the beta readers will definitely need guidance to work better with the writer. These are called “the rules of engagement” that will help you to create and maintain a healthy working relationship with the beta readers

1. Don’t ever Give Them a Draft: it is very disrespectful to a reader to have to read your first draft because it would definitely not be interesting and that would kill the feedback given to you. This is because a beta reader is still the targeted  reader, who might recommend  your book to other readers when it is finally out. 
2. Write in the format they would prefer to read the material: Before evensending your manuscript to the readers, ask them what format they would  like it in,whether printed or not.  Make sure that you deal with anything that could hinder the beta readers from giving you biased feedback.

1. Let the beta reader know what is expected of them in a specified period of time.  Have a checklist with questions you would like answered after the feedback is given by the reader.
2. Don’t ever Take it personally this is because critiques will always have opinions that might hurt.  Do not lash out in anger because of an opinion, if you do not agree with it just throw it in the garbage and thank them for their comments and move on donot forget to thank the readers after they have finished the work.
3. Always return the favour when requested to because that fact that you are not paying your beta readers, it is only polite to help them when they need you. And when it comes time to publishing the book,mention them in your acknowledgements, this excites many.

As much as it is terrifying for writers to share their most prized work, it is always rewarding. Opening the feedback from the beta readers would give you the writer goose bumps! Take note of what you need to remember before you open the feedback and look through:

• Your aim is to produce a better book , that would not be possible without constructive criticism.
• Your beta readers are people who want to help you produce a better book, not tear you down.
• If there are a few things to change in the manuscript doesn’t mean you’re a bad writer. It only helps you earn more readers and get better value from the book.
• You have the right not to accept every piece of advice given to you. It is your book!
• You can still do it.

Authors don’t usually pay beta readers, so any interaction needs to be positive and affirming. Presumably, this won’t be your last book, and treating your betas right will leave them open to helping you out next time, too
On the other hand, for one to be a very exceptional beta reader only two rules apply in this case
1.) be familiar with the  genre
Ideally, a beta reader should be familiar with the genre of the client’s manuscript. If you are a beta reader who enjoys romance whythen should you be given a sci-fi novel! It would not give the best results because as a beta you lost interest from the word go
2.)  the ability to be honest
This is the reason with friends and family are not the best of choice. This is because they can’t be completely honest with you about your work for fear of hurting your feelings and damaging your relationship. To be a good beta don’t everhave a reason to hold back willingness to be brutally honest.