When you say beta readers are you referring to friends or family?

[Guest]

You know those first important things, oh, even the pros...

[Rée]

I’m referring to fans of my genre who are in my target audience.

[Jenni]

Unless they're writers, neither. I like having beta readers who are writers, or who understand the requirements of my genre.

[Suneal]

Anyone who can read and are willing to read.

[Adele]

I write YA, so my alpha and beta readers are trusted students of mine.

I thought they’d be too soft on me, but they’re brutally honest.

[Aaron]

You actually don't want friends or family for beta readers.

They're not going to be objective.

They'll constantly see the book through the lens of, "my friend/family member wrote this. "What you're looking for is someone who has read a lot of books or your genre of book before and can ask themselves, "Is this a quality addition to the genre?".

Don't miss: Question for the male readers

[Courtney]

No, no friends or family.

Beta readers can be paid professionals or very helpful readers who look over your story and point out things they like and dislike, plot holes, etc.