How to be an awesome beta reader

An author's goal, during beta reading, is to get the right topics in the right order at the right level of detail, such that it can be understood and applied by real readers, like you. Which is less about the sentence-level prose and more about the chapter-level contents.

The most helpful feedback is about the same big-picture reactions that you'll find within the tool: useful; slow; confusing; and loved it.

Of course, you'll certainly also notice plenty of typos and awkward writing, but those sorts of details aren't (yet) the point. Beta reading comes quite early in the book-writing journey, usually after the second or third draft, but before any sort of detailed proofreading. 

One helpful approach to "narrate" your mental state to the author while reading, using the four big reactions. (And especially the negative ones!) 

(If you're curious, scroll a bit further down to see a couple over-the-shoulder videos of how authors use all this feedback.)

So when you find yourself thinking, "Sheesh, this is taking a while to get to the point," or "I have no idea what this example is trying to tell me," don't just bury that thought away -- that's exactly what the author wants to hear about. 

So click the little reaction for "Feels Slow" or "Confusing" and let them know.

If you'd like to add extra context beyond the reaction, you certainly can. For example:

Feels Slow: noticing myself starting to skim ahead at this point

Confusing: seems like the takeaway here is making the opposite point to the earlier example...?

Love it: I really appreciate the straightforward "just do it this way" tone in this section -- helps cut through some of conflicting advice I've been hearing elsewhere

Useful: we'll very likely start using it immediately in our weekly meetings -- thanks :)

It's okay to offer suggestions and advice if you have it, but you needn't feel pressured to do so -- identifying the issues is already more than helpful. After all, the author will ultimately make their own decisions about how to fix stuff, but they're relying on you to help them figure out what and where those issues might be.

Bonus sneak peek: How authors use your feedback

In case you don't believe that your thoughts are useful, here are two videos from our authors talking through how your feedback (both positive and negative) is helping them to make a better book: