How to Deal with BETA READER FEEDBACK + Q&A
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- Опубликовано: 18 сен 2019
- DEALING WITH BETA READER FEEDBACK // Are you wondering:
- How can I receive and process beta reader feedback in an emotionally healthy way?
- How to I organize & apply my beta reader feedback?
In this video @BethanyAtazadeh & I want to discuss all this with you while sharing our own process and struggles! JOIN US LIVE on Thursday (9/19) at 6pm EST and be sure to bring all your questions about this topic or anything else about beta readers you'd want to know!!
GET MY BETA TOOLS & TEMPLATES //
On my Patreon: / authorbrittanywang
ALL VIDEOS IN THIS SERIES //
THE FULL PLAYLIST: • My Beta Reader Process
How I Found 70+ Beta Readers | • HOW TO FIND BETA READE...
How to Choose the RIGHT Beta Readers | • HOW TO CHOOSE BETA REA...
Setting a Schedule + Expectations | • BETA READERS Schedule ...
Picking Beta Reader Questions + Organizing Feedback | • BEST BETA READER QUEST...
How I Received & Processed their feedback | • How to Deal with BETA ...
// Our First Beta Reader Q&A (from Dec 2018)
• BETA READERS: Everythi...
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It was really lovely to hear your personal experiences with beta feedback! I have seen lots of videos that talk about betas, but it's often more about the process in general, while this was more about the emotional part of it! Really made me excited for my own beta process, though! I've already started to think about what to have on my questionnaire and how to send it out to betas! EEP!
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And I've noticed several times that the phrasing of "being gentle" when giving feedback is being misinterpreted, and I think it's worth noting that they did adress that in the stream. And here is my two cents on the matter as well in case you don't watch the entire stream:
Hearing "I hate this character. This character is passive and boring and I couldn't stand reading this character's scenes, they were so incredibly uninteresting and provided nothing useful to the plot. You should change it like this, or perhaps just remove it, really." is not really super helpful. Sure, you get to hear that the character is passive and how the scenes are useless to the plot, but how much better isn't it to hear:
"I think this character is being passive and I found it difficult to be engaged in the scenes with this character. I think this character could be so much more interesting if you maybe did x, y, and z instead of a, b, and c. That way the scenes would feel more important then they do now".
Not only are you told the EXACT same things, that the character is passive and not very interesting, but instead of using harsh, unnecessary words, you instead focus on explaining what you think and WHY you think that, and the author gets some suggestions on how you think the character could improve, but given in a helpful tone rather than demanding one. There is no need to make the author feel like they've done something wrong by having written it the way that they did. They know it's not perfect and want to improve, the reason why they have betas, so help them improve, don't berate them and use unnecessarily mean words.
That's what they mean with "being gentle". A teacher telling a student how to improve will never (should never) tell them how aboslutely awful it is, but instead focus on what they can do to improve on what's bad. Constructive criticism doesn't mean it's "nice" for the author, at all, but it also doesn't mean it has to be overly "mean" or have the criticism rudely said. that's all they meant and they clarified that I thought.
You can either focus on how bad it is, or you can focus on how to improve it. There is a difference.
Authors are different of course. Personally I wouldn't be offended, I know my writing and storytelling is flawed, but an overly rude comment would probably make me feel a bit more discouraged, rather then excited about improving my work.
And I think it's important to clairfy that this is what it's meant by giving "gentle" feedback. Maybe the phrasing isn't perfect, perhaps far from it actually, but to me the thought behind it makes perfect sense. It's about common decency and respect.
YES!!! PREACH INGRID!!!
Brittany and Bethany thanks so much for all the great info about beta readers in this video. You cover a wide range of questions many writers have about the beta reading process. You even give a variety of ways to do or handle everything while doing a round of beta readers. I agree some writers need beta readers who are straight forward (not jerks) but give honest and helpful feedback. Helpful feedback is the key for writers. And I like how you say that some writers need a bit gentler feedback because not all writers are the same. Some writers may need the positive sandwich feedback but others may need straightforward critique of their work.
And thank you for the info about Google Docs, Bethany! I love BetaBooks but the Google Docs sound pretty darn cool! I look forward to you doing a video about it.
Again thank you ladies you are so helpful and amazing! ❤️
Yay!! It was so fun to have you at the livestream, JJ and I’m so glad this chat was so helpful for you!! We did cover so much, oh my gosh! Haha And seriously, I want to see that Google Forms Video from Bethany too! 😄🙌
Thanks for sharing your experiences and for giving some tips. There are plenty of videos about beta readers and feedback but it's always nice to hear other perspectives since someone will find it helpful. The two of you had a lot of good bits of information that I will definitely keep in mind when I go into the beta reader stage. Organizing feedback will be a nightmare for me so I'll definitely be trying what you both talked about. There was also a pretty good conversation in the chat about feedback and how people should go about doing it. I could go into a huge thing about that but really it all comes down to respecting each other (beta reader and author). I'm not going to go any further than that.
Anyway, this was a lot of fun. You both gave great answers to the questions and I can't want to implement some of the methods later on.
Yay!! Thanks so much Tracey! And yes, I love hearing everyone's process too because, while some things are the same, you can always learn something different from everyone. Was so fun to have you at the live chat too, you're the best!
As always it's fun seeing you and Bethany team up. I've come to enjoy the beta reader process, a lot of my betas are authors and writers from genres that are different from mine. I really value their perspective and it's interesting to see how others view the horror and urban Fantasy genre.
Sorry to be off topic but does someone know a method to get back into an Instagram account..?
I was dumb forgot the login password. I love any help you can offer me
@Nolan Brentley instablaster =)
@Brodie Onyx I really appreciate your reply. I found the site thru google and I'm in the hacking process atm.
Seems to take quite some time so I will reply here later with my results.
@Brodie Onyx it did the trick and I finally got access to my account again. Im so happy:D
Thank you so much you saved my account!
@Nolan Brentley happy to help :D
How do you use Google Docs to have the responses compile? Do you share the survey doc with your betas and their responses automatically compile as they respond?
Ah ha! Google forms. That makes more sense.
You tell the beta reader to be gentle with the writer because most writers are fragile. I beg your pardon, but some of us want the cold, hard facts. I need to get to the business of editing, and I do not want my beta reader to hem and haw. Directness conveys necessary proportionality. Nobody needs to be an asshole when providing feedback… But it’s a joke to say that they should be delicate. Not everyone is made of egg shells. Sometimes, you are hypersensitive and overly emotional.
I’m concerned with craft, and improving my abilities. I don’t care about soothing my delicate ego
I’m sorry if I come across as harsh. But lately, I’ve been hearing a lot of empty touchy-feely advice regarding writing. And from content developers that I know can do a lot better. Some have given very useful advice
Granted, I’m writing this early on in your video
You're right. Asking someone to be delicate isn't a good way to go about it in my opinion. Just ask for honesty and if they're an arsehole never work with them again. I had a beta reader who was very rude/insulting but actually made some fair criticisms. Growing a thicker skin doesn't come with polite approach. And so betas prepare us for the real world with readers who aren't gonna hold back.