Not all authors use beta readers, but they can be extremely helpful in sorting out a story. From noticing dropped subplots, to typos, to missing sequences, beta readers can contribute to your success as an author. In my experience, they have always helped to improve my writing and raised my standards in the stories I turn out. The only drawback is that sometimes they take a while to get back to you, which can make you a little impatient.

When you can’t just sit around and wait.

When I first started using betas, I was overly optimistic about the time frame. I figured two weeks was more than enough time to hear back from readers and when I didn’t, it made me nervous. Immediately, I started thinking the story was bad, or there was something terribly wrong. But in fact, it was just that my readers had lives. Things happen. Some people read slower than others. Some had to go out of town unexpectedly. Family emergencies. The lesson being that you cannot sweat the things you cannot control. So rather than sitting around and waiting, or chewing my fingernails down to the quick, I developed a list of things I could do while I waited for my feedback.

Productive ways to wait for feedback.

While there’s all kinds of things you could be doing while you wait for your beta reader feedback, you probably want to engage in activities that are productive and in some way help move your work in progress forward, as opposed to binge watching on Netflix or spending your days on social media sites. The following were helpful to me and perhaps will work for you as well:

Start research on the next book. In my case, I was writing a series, so conducting research on the next book dovetailed nicely. I was able to work out locations, research a particular industry that was part of the storyline and do a little bit of character profiling.

Outline the next book. If you are working on a series, even if it is not directly related to the current storyline, working out a basic outline for your next book can keep things moving forward. Even a short one-page outline that determines the theme, genre, inciting incident, middle build, and climax will be great to have when you are ready to move on to your next title.

Start the first draft of your next book. If you are writing a series and especially if your series is interconnected, a trilogy for example, you may be able to start the first draft of your next book. Some authors can work on two storylines at once without becoming confused or muddled. Some can’t. If you can’t do this, no worries, there are plenty of other things you can work on.

Catch up on resource and craft reading. What about all those articles you bookmarked, email marketing courses you signed up for, and books on craft you’ve been meaning to get around to? Now’s your chance to get all that backlogged reading done. And when you’re finished, you’ll be even more ready to take on your next draft.

Research book covers. If this is the final round from your betas and you are moving toward the completion of your book, looking into book covers makes sense. You can check out different book cover designers for cost and availability, research covers in your genre of best selling books, or if you’re really adventurous start teaching yourself how to design your own cover. There is a YouTube video for everything these days, so rest assured you could learn GIMP, Photo Shop or InDesign basics while you wait.

Drafting your book launch. Since writing your book is really just the beginning of getting your work to market, it’s never too soon to start drafting your book launch. Writing book blurbs, checking out promotion sites, prepping the readings on your mailing list for the upcoming release, developing freebies, discounts and other aspects of launching the book will take plenty of time. Why not use the time you have now, while you’re waiting?

Make the most of your time.

I’m sure there are many other things you can do while waiting to get feedback from your beta readers, but whatever you do, use your time wisely. Think of things that will in some way continue your progress forward. You may be surprised by how much you can get done when using this mind set.