So you’ve spent the summer hidden away in your revision cave, furiously editing your NaNoWriMo manuscript. And now your book has progressed enough that it’s time for a friend or fellow writer to read it (eeep!) and give you feedback that will make the next draft even better (hooray!).
This is a huge moment. I’ve been fortunate to have readers whose generous insights made my manuscripts 10,000% better. But I’ve also bungled the feedback process in inventive ways: wasting readers’ time, collecting reams of confusing notes, and ending up adrift and demoralized.
If I could travel back in time, I’d give Younger Chris Baty these 10 tips to make the feedback process smoother and more fruitful for all involved.
- Choose readers who love your genre. Just because someone is a gifted writer doesn’t mean they’re necessarily the right reader for your book. Especially for these tender, early drafts, the most useful feedback comes from people who share your literary tastes and understand the kind of story you’re trying to tell.
- Offer a printed copy. I’ve been surprised by how many readers prefer a print-out. If you are going analog, remember to add wide margins and consider getting it spiral bound at a copy shop to make it easier to flip through. And don’t forget to add page numbers!
- Avoid disclaimers when handing over your manuscript. This will be tough! You’ve spent a lot of time with your story, and you are intimately familiar with its shortcomings. But the beauty of beta readers is that they arrive with a totally fresh set of eyes. Don’t bias their feedback by telling them what you think is wrong (or right) with the book. You’ll likely be surprised by the things they love.
- Give readers a firm deadline. Agreeing on a timeline before handing your book over will save everyone a lot of angst and guilt. In my experience, a month is perfect. Your goal is to collect their thoughts while the story is still fresh in their minds.
- Talk it through face to face. When it’s time to get their notes, try to do it in-person or on Zoom. If they also want to write something up, that’s great. But structuring it primarily as a free-flowing conversation instead of a written assessment lightens their workload and gives you a chance to dig into important feedback.
- Prepare questions ahead of time. Time with readers is precious, so it's great to go into your tête-à-tête knowing what you want to ask. I share my questions with readers before we meet so they can be pondering them. Here are a few of my go-tos:
- What did you like best about the book?
- What were the most exciting/interesting parts of the story?
- Which parts confused you?
- Where did the story drag?
- Did you find yourself rooting for the main character?
- Was the ending satisfying? Did it feel earned?
- If you could only change one thing about the book, what would it be?
- If you had to cut 25 pages, what would you shorten or take out entirely?
- If you were going to add 25 pages, what part of the story (or which characters) would benefit from getting more detail?
- Encourage them to be candid. Make sure they know that the biggest kindness they can do for your book in the long run is to be totally honest about what's not working now. Tell them they won't hurt your feelings (even if this is a lie). Try not to look flustered or overwhelmed (even if you are). Also, know that feedback sessions will likely leave you feeling tired and sad. This is totally normal, and means your readers are doing their job.
- Start with the things they liked, and linger on the positives for at least 10 minutes. This may feel like you're fishing for compliments or avoiding criticism. But hearing what they loved about your book is invaluable for writerly morale. You’ve spent months or years on this thing—you deserve some compliments! Also, finding out what's working helps you avoid messing up the good parts in the next draft.
- When they flag things that confused them, don't try to explain your thinking or point out passages they missed. If they were confused by it, other people will be too. Just capture their feedback and move on.
- No matter how brilliant the advice, avoid implementing it right away. Sometimes a reader will make an offhand suggestion that blows your mind and fixes a dozen story problems in one fell swoop. Your impulse will be to drop everything and rewrite your entire book immediately to incorporate it. Don’t. Instead, let it marinate for a bit and make sure you map out how the change will impact other parts of your story. If it still feels like a good idea after a couple of weeks, run with it.