Beta readers can be an amazing resource for writers. These ‘pre-readers’ of your book can help you pinpoint problem areas, spot typos, plot holes and more. However, if you don’t provide a structure for your beta readers you may not get the feedback you need or want.

Provide guidelines and questions for more targeted feedback

Even if you are looking for general feedback from your beta readers, I still believe it is wise to provide them with a list of questions to act as guidelines for them to use. The old adage that you have to ask for what you want is true here. If you aren’t specific with your readers beyond ‘What did you think?’ you likely won’t get very specific feedback. Some readers may just say they liked it and it was fun and leave it at that.

Following are a list of suggested questions that you can use to get the specific feedback you are looking for. You can use all of them if you like but, personally, I like to focus on one specific area or just pick 2-3 questions from each category. That way you can get specific feedback without exhausting your betas.

General questions

1. Did the first chapter draw you in and make you want to continue reading? If not, at what point did you stop reading?

2. Is any part of the story too slow (boring) or too fast (confusing)?

3. Was there too much back story? If so, where?

4. Are any of the scenes too cliché, sappy, violent?

5. Did you get a good sense of the characters, what they looked like, sounded like, their actions, etc?

6. Did anything in the story confuse or frustrate you?

7. Did you have to reread any sections to understand what happened?

8. What parts resonated with you and/or moved you emotionally?

9. Are there any parts of the story that should be expanded or any parts of the story that seemed unnecessary?

Characters

1. Did you like the main character? Were you able to relate to him/her?

2. Which characters did you like best and why?

3. Were the characters believable – whether you liked them or not, could they have been real people?

4. Were you confused about who any of the characters were? Too many to keep track of? Names or characters too similar?

5. Did any of the characters do or say anything out of character to you?

6. Who was your favorite character and why?

7. Did any of the characters seem unnecessary to you? If so, who and why?

 8. Was the antagonist well-developed as well? Did you understand the antagonist's motivation?

Dialogue

1. Did any dialogue seem out of place, improbable or otherwise wrong?

2. Did the characters tallk too much, not enough, or just the right amount?

3. Was the dialogue realistic and distinctive from character to character?

4. Was there not enough dialogue or too much dialogue?

5. Did the dialogue sound natural to you? If not, whose dialogue did you think sounded artificial?

6. Was there anything about the dialogue you didn’t like? If so, what was it?

Plot/Structure/Formatting

1. Did the story make sense and flow logically from one sequence to the next?

2. Were you able to tell from the beginning whose story it was, the time period and location?

3. Were there any inconsistencies in time sequences, places, character details, etc. that you noticed?

4. Were there any repeated grammatical, spelling, punctuation or capitalization errors?

5. Was the plot/premise realistic? Were you able to suspend your disbelief?

6. Did any part of the story seem unnecessary to you?

7. How was the story pacing overall?

8. Were there any parts that there was too much telling and not enough telling?

9. Do any chapters or scenes seem unnecessary?