Why Beta Readers Lead You to Getting Paid for Your Writing

Image: a man wearing business attire holds forth a business card printed with just the word "Writer."
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Today’s post is by author, editor and coach Jessica Conoley (@jaconoley).


Asking someone to beta read for you is one of the first steps you will take toward becoming a well-paid, published, consistent writer. Because, for many of us, the beta reader process is the first time we must own the identity of: WRITER.

Owning your writer identity is the biggest mindset hurdle we face. This is especially true if you’re uninitiated and haven’t yet been published and/or paid for your work. Once you overcome this hurdle, you build up courage to reach for bigger opportunities (and pay checks) in your career.

Building up courage starts long before we are paid, published, or well-known. Building up courage happens in tiny decisions and actions, day after day, year after year. Building up courage starts the moment you realize your manuscript is polished to the best of your ability and you need to ask someone for an objective opinion on your work.

This is when most of us freak out. We no longer have the luxury of hiding in the security of secrecy. We cannot hoard our writing dreams and aspirations in silence any longer. To level up this project you must have objectivity, and the only path to objectivity is letting someone else read your words. To progress you must ask someone to read for you.

While you may think asking someone to read is just about feedback and learning if your characters resonate, you’re simultaneously stepping into the identity of WRITER. In the act of asking, you are forced to try on a new persona. A persona you may not feel you’ve earned. This is why you are scared to ask.

But, over time, after telling enough people and letting them read your words, you feel like a writer. Feeling like a writer changes your internal beliefs because you’ve entirely stepped into the identity of WRITER. And because writers write consistently, your actions change to align with this new identity.

Asking someone to beta read shows you: You can be brave. You can level up.

Writer level-ups often look like this:

  • I am a writer.
  • I am a consistent writer.
  • I am a published, consistent writer.
  • I am a paid, published, consistent writer.
  • I am a well-paid, published, consistent writer.

Now that you know where this one tiny act of courage can take you, let me show you how to make this jump, and I’ll even show you where to find a few beta readers along the way.

How to level up and own your writer identity

  1. Reframe your feels-so-scary-it’s-time-for-a-beta-reader realization to a phenomenal opportunity. This is the opportunity to baby-step deeper into your writing career by admitting, out loud, to another human that “I am a writer.”
  2. Acknowledge you don’t really believe you are writer—yet. Even though your actions confirm you write, and you have the proof of a finished written thing, and think about writing constantly, you still don’t believe you are a writer. It’s totally okay, none of us do at this point.
  3. Accept that saying “I am a writer. Would you like to read my book and offer your opinions on it?” is going to feel uncomfortable. Which is totally fine because feelings try to keep you safe by keeping you in your comfort zone, and you are actively expanding your comfort zone, which is uncomfortable.
  4. Practice the first half of the ask. Say “I am a writer” out loud while looking at yourself in the mirror. Say it in the car at red lights. Write it over and over, Simpsons-on-the-chalkboard style. Rehearsing ad nauseam gives you a better chance the words will pop out of your mouth before you have a chance to feel or think.
  5. Tell a stranger. Someone you’re never going to see again. Type it in the comments of a post on the internet somewhere. Tell your Uber driver. Mention it to a server at a restaurant you never plan to eat at again.
  6. Tell your acquaintances. The people who know you tangentially but aren’t involved in every detail of your life. People you haven’t spent one-on-one time with. The people at your gym. The knitting forum. The barista at your favorite coffee shop.

The acquaintance step is where you’re going to find your beta readers. When people learn you are a writer, they get excited. They think our job is super cool—because it is. When these acquaintances see you living your dream, it makes them think maybe they can live their dreams too. This is why they will ask you about your writing every time you see them. If the acquaintance turns out to be an avid reader, or even better yet, a reader of your genre, they are the ideal person to ask “Would you like to read my book and offer your opinion on it?”

Acquaintances offer the most objective opinion because they don’t know your intimate life story. They won’t assume you’re writing about your third-grade boyfriend or craptastic day job, because they don’t know about either of them. They are also super flattered to be in on the early-stages-behind-the-scenes of a book, which means they eagerly read and get you feedback promptly. These early readers turn into fans and are the foundation of your platform. They have excitement about your success, because they contributed to it by beta reading, which seals in your new writer identity.

You may have noticed friends and family are not on the baby-step list. This is because family and friends love us and want to keep us safe. The people who know us best are often those overly cautious, well meaning, here’s-all-the-reasons-this-is-not-going-to-work types. Telling them before you own your writer identity is a common way we subconsciously self-sabotage and stall our writing evolution.

Most of us don’t have the emotional muscle to carry around the fears and concerns of family/friends until we’re at the I am a published, consistent writer stage of things. If someone close to you is a permanent Eeyore, I implore you DO NOT TELL THEM. You do not have room for dream assassins whispering in your ear. Find the dream enablers, share with them, and the well-intentioned-dream-assassins can be spectacularly surprised when you have something in print to show them.

Owning your identity as a writer is a key step toward becoming a well-paid, published, consistent writer. Writing something was the first step, now take the next one and tell someone, “I am a writer.”

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Rick Graf

Jessica, well-done! When I finish setting up my website, would you & Jane be okay if I created a link to your article?

Jane Friedman

You’re welcome to link to anything you like.

Jessica A Conoley

Thank you, Rick! I’m glad the article resonated with you & I’m happy for you to share it with your audience. Congrats on getting the website set up. That’s a huge ownership of your writer identity!

Sue Halstrom

From its title I thought this article might help writers to more specifically structure the feedback they want from beta readers. Perhaps a future article might do that? Thanks.

Jessica A Conoley

Hi Sue, thank you for making time to read the article.

I am going to cover handling BR feedback (& much more about the BR process) in depth in Jane’s online class 4/27. We’d love for you to join us.

I appreciate you letting me know you would like additional posts on beta readers & the process. I’m definitely glad to write them at some future date.

Best of luck with your writing.

Jane Friedman

Hi Sue,

Here are some additional resources at this site:

https://janefriedman.com/beta-readers/
https://janefriedman.com/find-beta-readers/

Gayle Veitenheimer

I love your comment about the dream assassins and the dream enablers. Spot on.

Jessica A Conoley

Thank you, Gayle. I appreciate you taking time to read. One of my favorite classes to teach is my Slay Your Dream Assassins class. I teach it to help writers learn to be happier & more productive, but the fun side-benefit is we can use those principles to see how dream assassins are driving our characters too. Have a good day 🙂

Michael Ross

Beta readers can be very important. It’s also important to choose beta readers carefully, and know what kind of feedback you’re looking for. Unless your Aunt Minnie has specific knowledge of your topic, is a literary agent, or an editor for one of the Big Five, you probably don’t want her. For example, with my first book, writing as a male, I wanted feedback specifically on the voices of my female characters. I enlisted the aid of other authors and reviewers, getting a dozen or so, all women, to read the book and give frank opinions. It definitely helped – got a testimonial review after publication that said, “I don’t normally read books by male authors, because they get the women wrong. This one was accurate in every respect!” Using targeted beta readers with specific guidance results in better feedback. For my second book, I was concerned about Shoshone details and culture. I was fortunate enough to get the Chief of the Northwestern Shoshone as a beta reader, and ultimately, an endorser of the book. In my third book, I was writing about black culture, and had a sixth-generation descendant of the black settlers of Nicodemus as a beta reader – she’s also the head of the Kansas Historical Society. I developed a questionnaire for beta readers that I use for those without specialized subject knowledge – it helps to make sure I get the kind of feedback I’m looking for. It wastes everyone’s time for a beta reader to come back with “I loved it!” “I hated it!” without more specifics. You can have a space for general comments, but IMHO you should ask questions that target specific areas – Were the multiple POVs understandable to you? Do you feel the men/women/children characters were drawn accurately for the culture and time period? Was there anything that pulled you out of the story? Was the pacing uneven or distracting? If you hadn’t been given a copy of the book, would you buy it or advise your friends to?