Project BIANCA is done with its 4th Draft. Which, according to my completely-arbitrary-system-that-works-for-me, it’s time to ask my fellow friends, family, and victim-I mean, loved ones, to read it and see what’s what.

But how do you do that? If you’re anything like me it can be scary sharing your work. (I say this, having just passed the six year anniversary of this website where I routinely put out stuff I’m only mildly proud of on a regular basis.) I like to think of this as training, preparing for the day when your book hits shelves and suddenly you’re no longer in control of what can/can’t be added to the page. It’s a test. One you need to first get over if you want to get any better.

Second, is figuring out how to properly ask for beta readers, people willing to put aside time and energy to read something that’s not quite done but ask for them to look for the nuggets of brilliance within. This can be family, friends, mutuals in a writing group (both online and in-person). For me, I happen to be acquainted with a lot of people who consider themselves avid readers, so asking for their help with a simple post is where I go. I understand this isn’t the case for everyone, so do what you can. Reach out, start looking, and join up where possible.

Third, is how to actually DO the asking. See, you’re not granting them early access to the next great blockbuster book of the year. You’re asking for them to look at your book baby in quite possibly its rawest and most vulnerable form. Your 1st Draft is for you, no one else. A way to get words out. The next three drafts are for you to make it better, to add in the bits you’ve always dreamed of, and to align things the way they should. But it’s STILL NOT DONE. This is the time for someone with fresh eyes to take a look, meaning you’re essentially begging for them to find mistakes. This is tough, because after so many revisions and rewrites you are, hopefully, proud of a lot of parts of your book. Letting it out just to get stepped on can feel like watching your child take their first steps into preschool only to be tripped by another, bigger, burlier kid. Be polite, letting them know you need help, and you’d be ever so grateful.

Fourth, what do you ask of them? You finally got some people to agree to read your work. Are you asking for line-by-line edits? Are you asking for them to find all your typos? If you value these relationships, no. Don’t ask for that. Instead, ask these five questions, letting them know you’ll do a couple more passes after to take their notes into consideration and fix spelling errors. What you want for your beta readers to do is examine their general overall feelings of the story. Here are the five I use, telling the to answer in as many or as few words as they’d like:

1) Did the story hold your interest from the very beginning? If not, why not?

2) Could you relate to the main character? Did you feel their pain or excitement?

3) Was there a point at which you felt the story lagged or you became less than excited about finding out what was going to happen next? Where, exactly?

4) Were the characters believable? Are there any characters you think could be made more interesting or more likable?

5) Was there enough conflict, tension, and intrigue to keep you engaged?

Finally, and this is the most important, RESPECT THE BETA READER. Odds are they have a lot going on in their own lives. They have jobs, kids, their own writing projects, etc. At no point should you be pushy or too demanding. Each of my beta reader requests come with many thanks, as much set-up to the story as possible, and a general timeline for the answers to the questions. You can’t be like, “I need these questions back in five days! Get it done or you’re fired!” No. None of that. I say, “I want to get the next round of edits done and ready for submission (two or three months from now). If you could have as many of them answered to me by then that would be super helpful.”

Appreciative. Grateful. Thankful. All three together. That’s what you should always be to anyone willing to read your work and help you out. Don’t be upset if people can’t finish. Life happens. Ask for whatever thoughts they had so far, and take it from there. Any help is better than no help.

You got this. Go ask someone.

Thanks for reading,

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