Adventures in Beta-Reading Part II
Did anyone figure it out by now? Give yourself a pat on the back if you did! If not, I'll be nice and give you a little hint:
Okay, so it was a big hint. If you don't get it now, then I can't help you.
If you'll remember our discussion from earlier this month (i.e. - Adventures in Beta-Reading Part I) I had officially sent out my completed novella to my first batch of beta-readers!
Keeping in mind the wise, though possibly NSFW (you were warned), words of author Jenna Moreci, I sent out my precious labor of love and a carefully worded 10-question survey. (Didn't catch the video from last time? Check out her YouTube channel!)
Then I waited.
And waited.
And waited...
And...has it only been 24 hours? I gave them TWO WEEKS to read and complete the survey??
WHAT AM I GOING TO DO WITH MYSELF?
Surprisingly, the answer to that particular question came in the form of an important assignment from my day-job that pretty much took all of my focus for about a week. (Thanks, boss!)
When I saw that first email from SurveyMonkey (you can send FREE surveys up to 10 questions, paid memberships for more advanced options) telling me that I'd received a response from one of my beta-readers...Oh, the flips my little heart made!
I was so excited, and nervous, and ready for some real-world feedback from a reader who I didn't know from the mailman and...
I like to think I'm a pretty good judge of reading between the lines when it comes to writing critiques. You can usually tell when someone is trying to say one thing, but are going around it a funny or oblong way.
If I had to sum it up, I'd say with quite a bit of confidence that this person hated my novella. Or, at least, strongly disliked it to the point where they didn't even feel compelled to go into the details of exactly what it was they didn't like about it.
At first, I felt like I'd swallowed a rock, so heavy was the weight in my stomach. All the old insecurities that every writer faces began to bubble up to the surface. But then I reminded myself of everything I'd read and heard while researching this important part of the writing process. One key phrase came to mind: You can't please everyone.
Let's say it again: You can't please everyone.
That's not to say that you shouldn't be concerned with the opinions of your readers, after all they're the ones who will be buying and reviewing your books, but there's a big difference between constructive criticism, and just plain criticism.
This was only my first beta-reader response, and the survey was set up to be anonymous, so I had no
way of knowing which volunteer reader this was. (A good thing, I'm sure.) It was entirely possible that this person wasn't in my target audience, or wasn't a fan of the genre. Or, as some of the one-word, non-constructive answers seemed to suggest, maybe this person just wasn't a suitable beta-reader. For me, anyway.
So, I resolved to wait until the deadline for the surveys before reading any other responses. The whole point of this exercise was to collect an analyze a group's opinion, right? I couldn't base my results on one response.
This time I waited with a little more patience. A little.
The deadline came and went, and still I waited until the next day to log on and read the rest of my beta-reviews.
And you know what? I was pleasantly surprised!
After that first survey, the rest were all very positive, with the readers picking up on nuances that I hadn't even considered!
Of course, there were some questions, some critiques. which is how it should be. Coincidentally, the three key scenes in the novella that were still bugging me were all picked up by at least one reader.
This feedback is going to go a long way to making this book as polished as it can be before it gets sent off for editing (hopefully next month!), and I'm so grateful for everyone who volunteered their time and attention. I'll be analyzing the responses in detail (because I'm hyper-organized like that) over the next week and making edits!
Now, I didn't quite reach the goal number of betas I was hoping for, but I've decided to hold a giveaway anyway!
I'll be randomly drawing ONE winner from my volunteer beta-readers, and that person will have the choice of:
1) A favorite book of mine from my personal collection
(OR)
2) A signed copy of the novella once it’s published
 |
| Photo Credit: www.rogerebert.com |
Okay, so it was a big hint. If you don't get it now, then I can't help you.
If you'll remember our discussion from earlier this month (i.e. - Adventures in Beta-Reading Part I) I had officially sent out my completed novella to my first batch of beta-readers!
Keeping in mind the wise, though possibly NSFW (you were warned), words of author Jenna Moreci, I sent out my precious labor of love and a carefully worded 10-question survey. (Didn't catch the video from last time? Check out her YouTube channel!)
Then I waited.
And waited.
And waited...
And...has it only been 24 hours? I gave them TWO WEEKS to read and complete the survey??
WHAT AM I GOING TO DO WITH MYSELF?
Surprisingly, the answer to that particular question came in the form of an important assignment from my day-job that pretty much took all of my focus for about a week. (Thanks, boss!)
When I saw that first email from SurveyMonkey (you can send FREE surveys up to 10 questions, paid memberships for more advanced options) telling me that I'd received a response from one of my beta-readers...Oh, the flips my little heart made!
I was so excited, and nervous, and ready for some real-world feedback from a reader who I didn't know from the mailman and...
I like to think I'm a pretty good judge of reading between the lines when it comes to writing critiques. You can usually tell when someone is trying to say one thing, but are going around it a funny or oblong way.
If I had to sum it up, I'd say with quite a bit of confidence that this person hated my novella. Or, at least, strongly disliked it to the point where they didn't even feel compelled to go into the details of exactly what it was they didn't like about it.
At first, I felt like I'd swallowed a rock, so heavy was the weight in my stomach. All the old insecurities that every writer faces began to bubble up to the surface. But then I reminded myself of everything I'd read and heard while researching this important part of the writing process. One key phrase came to mind: You can't please everyone.
Let's say it again: You can't please everyone.
That's not to say that you shouldn't be concerned with the opinions of your readers, after all they're the ones who will be buying and reviewing your books, but there's a big difference between constructive criticism, and just plain criticism.
This was only my first beta-reader response, and the survey was set up to be anonymous, so I had no
way of knowing which volunteer reader this was. (A good thing, I'm sure.) It was entirely possible that this person wasn't in my target audience, or wasn't a fan of the genre. Or, as some of the one-word, non-constructive answers seemed to suggest, maybe this person just wasn't a suitable beta-reader. For me, anyway.
So, I resolved to wait until the deadline for the surveys before reading any other responses. The whole point of this exercise was to collect an analyze a group's opinion, right? I couldn't base my results on one response.
This time I waited with a little more patience. A little.
The deadline came and went, and still I waited until the next day to log on and read the rest of my beta-reviews.
And you know what? I was pleasantly surprised!
After that first survey, the rest were all very positive, with the readers picking up on nuances that I hadn't even considered!
Of course, there were some questions, some critiques. which is how it should be. Coincidentally, the three key scenes in the novella that were still bugging me were all picked up by at least one reader.
This feedback is going to go a long way to making this book as polished as it can be before it gets sent off for editing (hopefully next month!), and I'm so grateful for everyone who volunteered their time and attention. I'll be analyzing the responses in detail (because I'm hyper-organized like that) over the next week and making edits!
Now, I didn't quite reach the goal number of betas I was hoping for, but I've decided to hold a giveaway anyway!
 |
| Whoa, slow down there! Let's get this puppy published before we give that many away! |
I'll be randomly drawing ONE winner from my volunteer beta-readers, and that person will have the choice of:
1) A favorite book of mine from my personal collection
(OR)
2) A signed copy of the novella once it’s published
If anyone has any additional questions about my first experience with beta-readers, feel free to comment below or you can tweet me @CCWriter_!
(Can I just say that I never though I'd use the phrase "tweet me"? I'm not old, I'm still under 30, but I swear some days I feel like I should be the elderly person standing on a porch and yelling at those damn kids to "get the hell off my lawn!")
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