Book Writing Tips: 3 Insider Secrets for Using Beta Readers (before you hire an editor)

Recently clients and prospects have been asking for book writing tips tied to using beta readers to improve their book content.

As a speaker, coach, or consultant writing a book as a marketing tool for your business, you already know that you will need a professional editor to polish and finalize the manuscript. After all, this book will be leveraged as a powerful part of your marketing and positioning strategy.

Before you get to the editing phase, consider using beta readers that can provide invaluable insights for making your book even more powerful and effective.

If this is a new idea, you may be asking yourself “Where do I start?”

Keep reading to discover 3 insider book writing tips for using beta readers to improve the quality of your manuscript…before you engage an editor.

Know Your Audience

One of the first questions I ask author prospects and clients is “Who is the book for?” The answer should be as specific as possible.

Your group of beta readers should consist of your ideal readers—someone likely to buy your book. Targeting only those people as beta readers will provide much higher value commentary than asking your Aunt Sally, who loves you and is a very lovely lady but has no interest in the topic of your book.

Provide clear, specific direction

To get the most open and beneficial feedback from your beta readers, provide clear direction.

How do you do this? Give them specific things to look for. The beta readers’ role is to help you improve the manuscript, not identify grammatical or spelling errors. Some will (likely because they are editors at heart and can’t help themselves as I am), and that is fine.

But what you are really looking for is insights on 3 things

  • Clarity (Is the book content easy to understand and follow?)
  • Flow (Are the chapters and paragraphs in the right order from the reader’s point of view?)
  • Completeness (What is missing that readers would want to know?)

Be clear about the time frame in which you need their comments. Never leave this open-ended.

Provide an easy-to-use format and add a watermark

As the author, decide what format (Word, pdf, or printed version) you’d prefer to provide. Consider your own comfort level with sharing your valuable content, knowing that once it leaves your computer, you are entrusting it to others.

Explain to your beta readers that this is a draft and is for “their eyes only” as a part of your trusted circle. Whichever format you provide, insert a watermark on the manuscript that reads “Draft-For Review Purposes Only”.

This may seem very obvious to you, but it is not always obvious to the beta readers. Recently one of my author clients shared her manuscript without this information and one of her beta readers was so excited about her content that she shared it with her entire team! The author was mortified. But she had not given any instruction that told the beta reader not to do that. A very valuable lesson learned!

Beta readers can play a very pivotal and important role in helping you create a book that is highly targeted and effective as you are in the revision stage of writing.

After you’ve revised your book, based on their feedback, and made your book the best it can be, you’re ready for engage a professional editor for the final steps.