If you need to get special feedback, you’ll need to use specialized approaches to get it.  Let’s take a look at how to bend some of the rules to tap into the unique perspectives of our readers. If you’re diving into this series mid-way, you may want to hit the series page for the full listing first.

Sample Sizes

A small group size (5 or less) can make the process easier to manage and provides more time to edit as you go if you are doing it in chunks.  Feedback from small groups also gives you focused information.  Some authors prefer this as they don’t want to dilute their voice with too much input, but remember you’re not obligated to listen to the suggestions.  You may want to do this in the earlier rounds when issues are easier to spot.

Alternatively, a large group of betas (20 or more) can provide more reliable and accurate feedback.  Large groups can do this by using the statistical law of large numbers. If your not familiar, allow me to elaborate:

Essentially, the law states that large sample sizes lessen the impact of outliers.  (It adjusts for people being super weird.)  Imagine you have two sticks of similar length and you use them to compare the size of two objects.  If the two measurements contradict each other, you have no way of telling which is correct.  On the other hand, if we measure the two things with a thousand sticks, a large majority of measurements will confirm that a T-Rex is indeed bigger than a bread box.

Although, unlike small groups, large groups are going to be trickier to manage and are going to take more time.  Using larger groups is useful later to hone in on the subtle issues and spotting feedback patterns.

Targeted Audiences

Diverse groups are important for well-balanced feedback, but it can be very useful to do a round of beta reading with low diversity as well.  If you’re writing a young adult fantasy for instance, it would be beneficial to do a round of beta reading with groups almost entirely populated with young adults.

This is one of the specialized approaches that is most useful when done toward the later rounds of beta reading when your work is polished.  Groups with low diversity can be too focused to do bulk polishing needed in the early rounds.  You should also probably limit this to one round of beta reading as well.

A second type of targeting to consider is other writers.  Writing and editing changes a person’s reading habits which means other writers are not ideal candidates for normal beta reading.  This in itself grants a unique perspective that can be useful however.  If you’re having trouble defining what’s wrong with part of your work, you might need to call in a pro to take a look.

Single Vs Multiple Sections

We’ve already touched on having your work beta read all at once or in sections, but you can add this to your toolbox of specialized approaches.

All at Once

Having your betas read the entire story will yield feedback about the overall story and how the end landed.  Human memory can recall the beginning and what they last read the best.  If you’re looking for high level feedback, this is a good way to get it.  This gives you a great view of the forest, but not the trees.

Sections

Breaking your story up into sections allows your betas to give feedback more often and on smaller pieces.  This keeps the details in working memory thus giving you more detailed feedback.  Looking at the trees, not the forest.  You can also gauge how plot twists and deceptions are working as you get feedback both before and after the big reveal.

Sections can be as small as pages or as large as halves, but the best balance tends to be somewhere in the middle.  The larger the section, the more general the feedback.  For this reason, sections tend to be smaller in the early rounds and get large toward the end of the process.

Wrap Up

Depending on what you need, try switching up your sample sizes, who’s in your reader pool, and changing the amount of story you send out.  Your needs are going to change as you move through the process, so stay flexible and follow your gut.  If you have questions, please leave a comment and don’t miss part 4 where I answer some common questions.