If you’re finishing up the first draft of your story, you may be wondering what the next step is and whether you need a beta reader or a developmental editor. The short answer—yes! Beta readers and structural/developmental editors provide two different types of feedback.

Similarities between Beta Readers and Developmental Editors

The main similarity between beta readers and developmental editors is that both are looking at the overall story. Neither is going in-depth or doing line-by-line comments. They are coming to the story as readers looking for things that work or don’t work, what makes sense and what doesn’t. Basically, they both provide “big picture” feedback that can help you revise your story.

Differences between Beta Readers and Developmental Editors

Qualifications

The main qualification for a beta reader is that they like to read, preferably in your genre, but not always. An editor has a professional background that includes training and experience. We have studied the craft of writing, the techniques, tropes, and genres.

Feedback Style

A beta reader can tell you if they like something or not, and they may even be able to tell you why they don’t like it. An editor will be able to do both of those, as well as provide specific strategies and options for improving weak areas.

Level of Detail

An editor will also give you much more detailed feedback. For a novel, we’ll provide you with hundreds of detailed comments pointing out strengths and areas for improvement and specific suggestions for how to improve those areas. The amount of feedback a beta reader provides will vary. Often, an author will provide a list of questions for the beta reader. However, since beta readers are doing this for free (usually), whether they answer all those questions is debatable. Sometimes a discussion of the novel after they finish will sum up all their feedback.

Compensation

Which brings us to the fourth difference—editors are paid and beta readers are not (usually). Editors are publishing industry professionals, but beta readers tend to be friends, family, or critique groups.  Hence, the difference in the amount and specificity of the feedback you’ll receive from both.

When to Use Beta Readers vs. Developmental Editors in the Writing Process

Typically, beta readers come first. They provide the initial feedback on your story, which you can take and use to revise your manuscript. After the story is as good as you can possibly make it, that’s when you seek out professional editing. To get the most out of editing, you want your story as tight as you can get it, so we can help with the areas you’re struggling with rather than areas you already know how to fix.

In an ideal world, we recommend writing your first draft, putting it away for a while to gain some distance, and then revising on your own. After that, depending on whether you think there’s more you can fix, you can either revise more or send it off to beta readers. After receiving their feedback, we recommend another round of revising on your own. At that point, we would recommend a professional editor.

Where to Find Beta Readers

Beta readers, particularly for first-time authors, tend to be friends and family, which is totally fine. Depending on your friends and family dynamics, they may or may not want to give any critical commentary on your story, but they should be able to provide some general feedback.

As you grow as a writer and become more enmeshed in the writing community, you may be able to find other writers who are willing to be beta readers. You can always propose a swap as well—you’ll read their book if they read your book.

You can always check out local writers’ groups, conferences, and workshops in your area. There are also online communities like AuthorMedia.social.

Questions to Ask Your Beta Readers

My first suggestion for working with beta readers—don’t overwhelm them with questions. Pare down your questions to the things that are most important. There are a couple of ways to get feedback—through a questionnaire or through a conversation after they finish. How you do it is up to you.

Here are a few options for questions:

• What were your overall thoughts and feelings during and at the end of the book?
• Were there any points where you felt bored or considered putting down the book?
• How did you feel at the end? Was the ending satisfying?
• Did any scenes stand out to you in particular and why?
• Which characters did you resonate with the most and least?
• Did the characters’ decisions make sense? Why or why not?
• Were there parts where you were confused and had to go back and re-read?
• Do you have any questions that weren’t answered at the end?
• Who do you think would enjoy this book?
• What other books or movies did it remind you of?

This is just a list to get you started. You can also ask about specific areas that you’re worried about or that you struggled with while writing.

Tip: Keep the questions open-ended rather than yes/no questions, so you’ll get more detailed feedback.

If you’d like to learn more about our structural/developmental edit, take a look at our blog post, Editing 101: What is a Structural Edit. Or, if you’d like an in-depth view of our editing process, check out, Removing the Mystery: The Step-by-Step Process of Working with Embers Igniting.

Ready for professional feedback? Contact us to learn more about our structural/developmental editing services.