The Good, The Bad & The Beta

I'm in a good mood today -- even though my Orioles lost a heartbreaker of a game last night to start the season *sigh* 

I got a GREAT response and some really good suggestions for strengthening my ending from my latest beta reader. She's the second of my 6 betas who read the whole thing in one sitting, because she liked it that much. Yay! So that gives me something to smile about -- even if my baseball team seems determined to make me cry.

One of the harder parts for most newer writers is letting someone else read your manuscript for the first time. Sure, we all harbor those secret hopes that our story is one that the masses will love & know that's not likely with the first several drafts -- but it can be super hard to put it out there for the first reads anyway.

We desperately want to get feedback, yet we're terrified of it at the same time. Terrified the feedback we'll get will turn out to be things like "This is boring", "I didn't like the characters" or "The plot just doesn't make any sense", etc.

That's why it's so important for us to have good beta readers, and know the reason WHY we chose them. I bucked the conventional wisdom that it isn't a good idea to use family & friends (only my most recent beta is a writer I'd never met before joining Nathan's forum ) I think you CAN choose people you know, ya just have to know why you're doing it.

Here's the types of people I chose for my beta (new writer friend not included) :

The Non-Reader  - I'm sure some people are saying "What?!?". Hear me out. I chose this friend, because she isn't an avid reader ... which, like it or not, is the category most of the general population falls under. I knew if I was able to entice her to read through the whole manuscript then I had a story that the non-avid reader could enjoy.

Super Nice Reader Friends/Family  - I had two people that I knew read a good deal, especially in this particular genre. So I knew they would be able to tell if this story was as good as, or better  (I was praying "worse" wasn't an option) than what they normally read. I knew they were too nice to ever offer any criticism ... but I also knew they both suck at lying, so I'd still know the truth when I asked them questions.

The Nit-Picker  - This person fusses over the smallest of details in her every day life. I knew she would never be mean about her criticisms, but she'd have zero problem saying. "I don't understand how ...." and if the tiniest of details was out of alignment, she would catch it. This was the kind of person who would notice if someone's eye color suddenly changed.

Switzerland  - I let my brother play the role of Switzerland. I knew he'd be completely honest with me, and tell me things even if I didn't necessarily want to hear them. (He'd try to do it in a nice way, but he'd still do it). Plus, paranormal romance isn't really his preferred genre, so he'd read for the overall writing more than getting caught up in the story line.

So the moral of this post is ... just kidding, I don't DO morals.

I'm just curious to see how everyone else feels about beta readers, and how you pick yours. Do you allow any family & friends or do you just keep it strictly authors, etc? Are you set with your group or are you always looking for new people to read & give you their thoughts?