It has been SO long since I’ve been a beta reader. But a good friend asked me to beta read something she wrote, and I’m so excited to do it. It’s historical fiction set in Regency/Victorian England, sometime around there. I only just started it and am having fun.

It’s a struggle trying to balance the beta read, working on book three, doing some translation work, managing my blog, and working my day job, but at least the programs I was working at Church are over for now. That frees up some time–though the holidays are always busy.

Anyways, the point of this is to share a beta reading strategy we figured out that might be useful for other writers and beta readers.

We were emailing back and forth. My friend told me she had some questions she might want to ask me regarding her manuscript–did I want those with the manuscript, or was I not interested in that?

I told her, why don’t I read and give my feedback first, THEN she can send what questions or concerns she has, and I can respond to them?

It felt like a win-win. That way, she gets both my unbiased/ unmanipulated response to her manuscript in my original thoughts and, after that, answers to her specific questions. If my first comments answer or hit upon her concerns and her questions, all the better! She gets an unfiltered response that way, as genuine as it comes.

I felt like if I don’t know what she’s worried about before I read, it won’t impact how I filter or interpret the story, and that’s better.

Just wanted to pass that along as it feels like a good working strategy to use with betas, if they’re willing.