Beta Readers | Part 3

So I've written about what a beta reader is. I've written about what exactly they do. I've written about is they'll work for you. I've even written about where to find them. I thought that would be the end of beta reading writing for me but NOPE! I keep wondering who makes a good reader and who doesn't. Are there certain traits that one should have or no?

I think the most important thing is finding someone who has time. When I give out my book, I don't want someone reading a chapter a night if they can fit it in. I want someone who will devote time to try and make my book as great as it can be. Someone who works full time, has a baby and in school, isn't an ideal candidate.

You also want someone who is in the right demographic as your book. If it's young adult you want a young adult to read it. Since that is your target audience. If you have a paranormal romance, you don't want someone who hates that genre to read it.

You don't want someone you are very close with. I gave my boyfriend my book to read and whenever I would ask about it, he would list off the good things about it. Then I would ask him if there was something I should fix and he would said no. I would get so mad because I want honest feedback. I think he didn't want to hurt my feelings. Picking someone like him or my mom would not be a good choice.

You want someone who reads regularly. If they don't read they probably don't know about what makes a good book. I can tell you the thing I pride books on is being original. If you don't read you're going to think everything is original. Also if you read you know what makes a good book. You recognize pace, voice and how a book should read. That's really important!

If you're really nit picking you want a writer. You want someone who understands what you had to go through to write the book. Beta readers aren't focusing on grammatical errors they should be focusing on the book as a whole. A writer would understand the ins and outs of a book. They would recognize a good length. Of course that is the ideal beta reader.

Now that I know everything about beta reading, it's going to be so difficult to figure out how to pick beta readers and find out where they are. I have a couple ideas but all my research has definitely paid off. I hope that I have helped anyone else out who is looking for beta readers!