Dear O'Abby - Should I critique my bestie's book?

 Dear O'Abby,

I am a published author with several books to my name, both traditionally and self-pubbed.  My husband has just completed his first novel and asked me to beta read for him. Rather foolishly, I agreed, and am now faced with a dilemma.  

The book is nowhere near ready for publication.  It's a fascinating idea, but the execution is such I can't see it being redeemed without basically starting again with the same core idea, but an entirely different approach.

My question is, do I tell my husband this? I don't want to ruin our relationship, but I feel like I'd be doing him a disservice if I didn't tell him the book isn't ready to send out.  The query trenches are tough enough when you do have a sale-able manuscript!

Do you have any advice for me?

Sincerely,

Divorce Pending

Dear Divorce Pending,

This is such a tough situation to be in and I feel your pain. I have been in a similar situation before, and I now refuse to critique manuscripts for anyone I know in real life.  It's just too hard when the book isn't good!  You've already agreed to read it, so it's too late to tell him you can't do it, so the way I see it, you have two choices.

You can tell him you read it and enjoyed it and give him feedback only on the things you liked about it.  It's not going to help him much, but it might keep your marriage intact.  Once he starts sending it out and inevitably gets rejections, he might be more receptive to hearing your thoughts. But then, he might also be angry that you weren't 100% honest with him to start with.

The other option is to be brutally honest and tell him exactly where the flaws are and what he needs to do to fix them.  You know him best, so are in the best position to understand how he might react to this type of critique.

If you do decide to go the second route, it's probably a good idea to start with the positives and to lead with telling him this is just your personal and professional opinion.  Let him know he doesn't have to take any of your advice if it doesn't feel right to him and that he should definitely get critiques from others as well so he can see if the same things come up for other readers.  You will know all this if you're a writer yourself.

At the end of the day, you need to be honest about your relationship and how your husband responds to criticism.  It's not worth destroying an important relationship over this, so make sure you tread carefully.  Your husband might surprise you.  No doubt he has seen and heard enough of the process through your experiences to know at least a little about it, and you might find he's far more open to your critique than you might imagine.

Good luck!  And do let us know how it goes...

X O'Abby

Dear O'Abby: Do I Need to Pay a Beta Reader?

Dear O'Abby,

I've recently finished revising a novel based on feedback from a critique group and feel like I'm ready now to get another layer of feedback.  I've been looking for beta readers to get this, and was surprised when one of the people I reached out to asked to be paid for it.  Is this normal?  Should I expect to pay for a beta read?

Yours,

Strapped

Dear Strapped,

No. This is not normal.  Beta readers are usually fellow writers or people who like reading in your category and can articulate what they think the problems are with your book.  In my experience, beta reading is usually a reciprocal thing - I'll read your MS if you read mine - but it doesn't have to be.

Certainly, it's a nice gesture if you give a copy of the finished book to the person who beta read for you, and you can thank them in the acknowledgments section of the book. But I don't believe you should pay actual cash money.

That said, if you are wanting a significant amount of feedback, and perhaps some line editing as well, then there might be a case for paying someone to read your MS.  But in that case, I think the line between beta reading and editorial work is somewhat blurred.  You would definitely expect to pay an editor and often the differences between what a beta reader and an editor do are quite small.  I certainly do little line edits in manuscripts I beta read just because I can't help myself if I see a spelling, grammar or other minor error.

But I don't ask to be paid for the beta reading I do just because I will mention if you have a comma in the wrong place as well as telling you the MC needs to be more active in solving their own problems, or a secondary character is just annoying, not endearing, or that I feel like the whole of chapter 23 is completely redundant and slows the pacing.  I just hope that when my next MS is ready to be seen, you will do the same for me.

Hope that's helpful!  And good luck with your manuscript.

X O'Abby

2018 Resolutions #3: Critique More

I love New Year's resolutions. They're a great excuse to evaluate the past year, decide where I want to be at the end of this year, and figure out a game plan to get there!

I have four writing-related resolutions this year, and I'll share one every week in January. This week, I resolve to CRITIQUE MORE.

In 2017, I read and critiqued 6 or 7 full manuscripts (a few more than once!). I love critiquing, and I think I have my system down to a science (first, I read the manuscript on my Kindle for story, then I go back and re-read it on my laptop and make in-line notes/comments on plot, character, narrative, etc., and finally send it back to the author with a longish email explaining my thoughts). Critiquing this way is a lot of work, but I think (I hope!) it's valuable for my critique partners.

For 2018, I resolve to take on 10 full manuscripts for critique. I've got one in the queue already, so I'll be looking for 9 more after that! It's so exciting to see what my critique partners are working on, and to find and develop relationships with new critique partners.

Are you planning to beta read or critique manuscripts in 2018? What's your process for doing so?

Is Beta Reading Right for You?

Beta readers... What do they do, exactly? I've compiled quite a list of articles regarding beta readers below, but first, a definition and my take on why they're so important:

When attempting to describe the definition of a beta reader, I came across this. 

Thank you, Wikipedia, for always being so prompt and informative.

So, in a nutshell, writers use betas for feedback. (Betas are a bit different from critique partners, as critique partners--also referred to as CPs--tend to who know their stuff and really dive down into the nitty gritty of a manuscript.) Beta readers don't necessarily have to have a background in editing, or writing. Their job is to look at the manuscript as a first reader. Betas are great at pointing out inconsistencies, especially series inconsistencies writers tend to gloss over/completely miss after reading that 70+ thousand word MS fifty times already (like, But two books ago you said her eyes were orange, not yellow, or whatever).

Betas are our a writer's best friend. Or, at least, my betas are. I'm not saying they're the people you hang out with and tell your innermost secrets, but they are your manuscript's best friend, because their job is to help you make it the best it can be. When I send stuff to my betas, I know they're going to point out things the readers will notice. I expect suggestions, knowing I might not use them all (but better to conteplate now rather than later, once the book is out and changes can't be made, right?). I expect my betas to tell me things politely, but they do have the right to disagree with my decisions, as long as they're tactful about it. It's important to remember that all beta readers are different, and that, if you choose to beta read for someone, it's okay for your personality to shine through. Some betas send back two pages of notes. Some have detailed suggestions on every page. Some only point out their favorite and not-so-favorite things. Some don't say much other than "yay" and "I'm so excited for ____". The point is, reading it and saying, "It seems decent" isn't going to help anyone, nor is sending twenty negative comments per page. 

Last, betas, a lot of times, end up being an author's core team of fans (but it's also okay if they don't). And by fans I don't mean crazy people who squee over you and stalk you online and get confused and think they ARE you (although, I could deal with that); I mean people who are your advocates. Who spread the word about your work, because they get it. Who you can count on in a pinch to read that novella or ask about a character list and if you missed something before sending something off to print. I don't know where I'd be without my beta readers. 

Now that I've explained what betas do, here are some great articles on beta reading that I've come across, as well as a great recent #k8chat (held by Kate Tilton on Twitter every Thursday night at 6:00 EST) regarding beta readers (lots of tips from readers and authors). I'd like to point out that most of these are written for the writer, not the beta reader, but they're still great and will also potentially give you ideas as to what to request as a beta reader (like knowing what format you'd prefer the document in, for instance). 

Another point real quick: it's important to remember that betas are not editors. It is not their job to point out the technicalities of punctuation (though, if that is your forte, you are more than welcome to mention that to an author before beta-ing... they might appreciate catching that stuff before their MS goes to the editor). I think of betas as the person you go to and say, "Hey, do these shoes go with this outfit?" To which they respond, "Well, last month you wore them with this dress, and it kind of goes but you seem to do better wearing these with pants. Oh and those earrings you had on last week would go great with it! That eyeshadow is not working for me at all, though." (Bad example? Oh well.)

Without further ado, here are some great tips on beta reading (including a couple from the OA blog, too): 

* What is a Beta Reader and Where Do I Find One? via Casey McCormick (@Casey_McCormick) ***make sure to read the comments in this post!

* What is a Beta Reader? Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Getting and Giving Feedback on Your WIP via Jamie Gold (@JamiGold) at Anne R. Allen's blog

* The "Art" of Beta Reading via Kati Brown

* An Essential Part of Writing: Critique Partners via Amy Trueblood (@atrueblood5)

* Copy-editing and Beta Readers via Joanna Penn (@thecreativepenn)

* An important tip to keep in mind while BETA READING via Monica B.W. (@Monica_BW)

* Beta Reading Etiquette via Trisha Leaver (@Tleaver)

* Beta Reading Etiquette: How to Give a Critique via Misti Wolanski

* Five Things You Should Know About Working With Beta Readers via Corina Koch MacLeod and Carla Douglas of Beyond Paper Editing

* Beta-Readers and Beta-Reading: #K8chat on Twitter with Kate Tilton (@K8Tilton)

* Agent Q & A part one: Revisions (in which agent Laura Bradford discusses the benefits of a beta reader) via Kell Andrews (@kellandrewsPA)

**This post was originally featured at my blog, Let Me Tell You a Story, but was tweaked a bit to be more applicable here at OA. :)

If you have any experiences, suggestions, or questions, feel free to share them in the comments!