I’m not talking about the fish. I’m talking about beta readers. Side note: I had a blue Betta fish in college. I used to travel to and from campus with him in his tank inside of a red and white cooler. He’d slosh around in the water up and down I-57. My Betta fish, which I never named because of my ever-present difficulty in name selections, was perhaps the most well-traveled Betta fish in history. He passed away one fateful day in the dorm bathroom during a routine cleaning. RIP my fish without a name.
As many of you know, I recently finished the first real draft of my novel Welcome to Wiggly, a middle grade story that I see as the first novel of at least five books. The story follows the adventures of one boy, his friends, and his family in a special Wisconsin lake town. As you can imagine, there is a fair deal of magic mixed in with the copious amounts of cheese (in the novel as well as eaten as research by the author).
With the draft done, I am currently on the hunt for beta readers. Criticism is invaluable to writing. My coworkers at my day job know that I oftentimes get mad if they have no improvements to suggest for a piece of writing. Although writing feels solitaire sometimes, it is indeed a creative medium that is improved by the review, evaluation, and discussion with interested parties. Although criticism can sometimes be hard to hear, it is what helps turn a novel that is great in the mind of a writer into a novel that is great in the mind of a reader.
How’s my search going? Thanks for asking. I’ve solicited some of my go to readers, and I value any person that says they are interested in reading my work. However, from experience, I know that friends and family are supportive yet not the most reliable when it comes to reading and feedback. Not a criticism. Friends and family have asked me to read pieces of work in the past, and I have failed to provide them the timely feedback they deserved, and I wished I had provided. People are busy and its hard, even when you support the person fully!
As such, I began scouring the internet for tips to find beta readers and quickly got overwhelmed. From what I’ve read, the act of luring in a random beta reader sounds as difficult as picking up a phone number in a bar (an act which I never successfully completed… other than numbers written on take home menus for placing orders).
Typical advice for finding beta readers seems to go like this:
- Scour social media for people you find attractive and interesting, especially those in the writer community.
- Like and comment on their posts until they notice you.
- Drop into their DMs with an offer of no strings friendly conversation, make it clear you seek deep friendship without gain.
- After a few weeks of genuine relationship building, you strike. Offer to critique their book. Perhaps you can take out their trash. Wash their laundry once a week. Stop by their house and repaint their siding while they are on vacation. Replace their toilet bowl wax ring (look it up). Name your second born son after them, but not your first. You don’t want to seem desperate. Are they having car trouble? Buy them a new car and don’t go cheap. Do you want them to read your book or not?
- 9 times out of 10, your desired beta readers still won’t read your novel draft, but with continued dedication, you should be able to convince 3 to 4 people to read your draft with a mere few years of effort akin to a full time job.
- After they have read your novel, reward their kindness by showering them with gifts. My internet research seemed to indicate you should gift $100 per person, although that may have been more relevant for wedding gifts.
Sound overwhelming and like a lot of work? Welcome to my brain. However, without the dedicated effort, you will deprive yourself of valuable beta reader feedback such as: “It was good.” “Think you should have focused more on writing.” “Next time don’t use so much starch when washing my shirts.”
It does seem like there might be some websites out there that connect you with potential readers. Here’s to hoping I find a couple good ones. I’ll keep you posted on a future blog post with any successful or not so successful attempts to lure in some new beta readers.
