Beta Reading

Beta readers are those people, often friends and family, who read your manuscript and tell you what they think. They’re readers, not editors, and are a great resource for discovering whether the book you’ve written is the one you planned to write. Unlike editors, beta readers aren’t looking to fix your grammar or stitch up that plot hole; we’re there to tell you whether or not we liked your work, and why.

There are a lot of great resources out there for finding free beta readers. So why would you pay for one?

The main reason is this: guaranteed, thoughtful, feedback. The most frustrating part of searching for beta readers is waiting for a response that never comes. To be sure, there are plenty of wonderful beta readers out there. If you’ve found one you love, cherish that relationship because I’ve heard a lot of horror stories from writers who waited weeks for a beta reader’s feedback that never came.

The second challenge of finding helpful beta readers, especially when soliciting responses from people who know and (presumably) like us, is that our friends and family often don’t want to hurt our feelings. Unfortunately, this isn’t helpful if you just want someone to tell you the truth.

When you hire Story House Editing to beta read for you, a reader from our team will ask if you have any specific questions or concerns, and then provide written comments about your text. They’ll tell you what they liked, what they didn’t, what they wish there had been more or less of, and most importantly, why they had those reactions. Our belief is that the more we tell you, the more you can make decisions about if and how you want to revise your work.