Why Your Beta Stopped Reading Your Manuscript

Finding a reliable and dependable beta reader can be a challenge. They often bail on you. Why? This topic comes up regularly on beta read groups.

First, let me point out the reasons why a beta reader may never start reading a manuscript.

• The author ignores formatting requests. I ask writers to put their manuscript in standard submission format. Not everyone wants this, but if your reader asks for a certain format, then try to be respectful and accommodate. Try to avoid tiny print, colored font, weird formatting, or other issues that may be an obstacle to easy reading.

• Ten chapters landing in their mailbox when they asked for one. 

• A manuscript with the chapter numbers removed and several chapters squished together when they asked for one chapter.

• The author makes unreasonable demands, such as fast turnaround, free line editing, and/or free proofreading.

Why a beta reader may stop reading a manuscript after one, two, three, or four chapters. Or pages.

• Materials are vastly different from the description. If a book is listed as PG-13, graphic sex scenes or violence shouldn’t be in the book. If it’s pitched as a cozy, blood and gore on page one can be a shock. The novel also needs to fit within the expected market guidelines for content. A YA novel, even if self-published, still needs to follow certain standards.

• Often, I will stop reading after a few chapters. This is because at this point of a beta read, the big picture problems are apparent. If the author consistently has the same issues in the first four chapters, I begin to repeat myself and my advice becomes repetitive. There’s no reason to continue until the writer has reworked the rest of the manuscript. To carry on is frustrating for both reader and author.

• If a submission is too rough and has editing mistakes in every line, a reader may stop after a page.

• Nonproductive dialogue with the author can ruin the reader-author relationship. Some writers desire affirmation rather than feedback. Encouragement is helpful to a certain degree, but beta readers primarily provide feedback to assist a writer find the flaws so they can improve. That does not mean writer must take all, or any, of their reader’s suggestions. But the author should expect suggestions rather than only praise. The beta should point out what works and what doesn’t.

Other reasons your beta stopped reading.

• They got sick.
• There was a family emergency. 
• An unexpected work situation came up.

In other words, life happened.

It’s not always about the manuscript.  A reader can have many reasons for not finishing your book.

Beta reading is hard work and time consuming. Volunteer beta readers don’t owe anyone an explanation if they find they can’t or don’t want to finish reading a manuscript. 

Remember, your beta readers are doing you a service and should be treated with respect.

Always be kind if it doesn’t work out, and move on.

Donna Jo Stone writes YA contemporary novels about tough issues but always ends the stories with a note of hope. She blogs at donnajostone.com.