Alpha Readers:

Those who read our really, really rough manuscripts and give you feedback. Alphas have to be built of sturdy stuff if they are to read something so rough.

They’re not looking for typos or things of that nature. What they are looking for are plot holes, if the story progresses smoothly, and glaring issues—i.e. in Chapter one the hero is a twenty-three-year-old brunette, and in Chapter 4, three days later, he’s a twenty-five-year-old blonde.

Beta Readers:

Those who read our touched-up manuscripts to give us feedback (after we have fixed the mistakes the Alpha Readers pointed out).

We like to wait until our book is completely edited and almost ready to be published.

Beta reading is how we get feedback on the whole story.

Let us know, did you enjoy the book.

What were things that didn’t work for you?

Did you get that “OMG, I couldn’t put it down!” reaction to the story?

Did you connect with the characters?

We will let you know exactly what we’re looking for in your feedback. If you found any typos that got by everyone else, please let us know so we can fix them.

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What do beta and alpha readers do?

Alpha readers can come into your draft at any point in the writing or drafting process.

Some authors like to bring them in before they even finish their draft. Doing this allows the writer to get an idea of if they are heading in the right direction. In my experience, this is very common with self-published authors.

By having an alpha reader come into your draft during the writing process, they can address concerns about:

• Originality

• Pacing

• Characters

• Setting

• Overall plot

• Underdeveloped storytelling elements

• Plot holes

• Dialogue

Instead of providing in-depth critiques like beta readers, alpha readers should only focus on the broader strokes and provide feedback.

On the other hand, beta readers dig deeper into the story and are more of a representation of your target base. Alpha readers should be knowledgeable about the story and the genre you’re writing in, but beta readers should be more knowledgeable about the genre than the story. So, instead of helping you pinpoint where the dialogue is unnatural, they will tell you how the story resonated with them.

It’s the difference between getting a critique that says the dialogue is stilted (alpha) and the reader saying that they didn’t believe the dialogue(beta). Alpha’s can help address how to fix the issue, while beta’s help pinpoints deeper issues more related to the effect on the reader.

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