Tiffiny Spire - writer and editor at The Pink Pen LLC
Tiffiny Spire - writer and editor at The Pink Pen LLC
Do you need a beta reader?
Most definitely. As authors, we’re too close to our story to know if the words we put on the page are really having the impact we intend. Someone else needs to read the story before we query it to agents or self-publish it.
Maybe, maybe not. If you have people in your life whose literary opinions you can trust, and these people are not extremely close to you, then they might serve as useful free beta readers. If they have the time in their schedule to read your book.
If you don’t have those kind of people available to you, strongly consider hiring a professional beta reader.
When I am hired as a professional beta reader, I take off my editor hat and put on my reader hat. I only act as beta reader for books in genres I read regularly, which means I’m familiar with the expected tropes and conventions of those genres. For me, these genres include fantasy, romance, Christian fiction, cozy mystery, MG, and YA.
As a beta reader, I’m paying attention to my experience as a reader. This focuses mostly on feelings and reactions to the manuscript. Which parts did I skim (because I got bored)? Which parts made me laugh out loud or cry? Was I confused by something? Did I have a strong reaction to the ending? Did I feel like something was missing? I provide a summary of these reactions to the author in a reliable timeframe.
As a developmental editor, I take note of these same feelings and reactions, but I dig into the writing using fiction craft theory to identify the cause for any unwanted reactions and suggest edits to the author to fix them. If you think you want this service instead, visit my Developmental Editing Service page.
Tell me a little about your manuscript and what you hope to achieve from hiring this service.
