How to Find Critique Partners & Beta Readers

Critique partners are writers who provide feedback on your work, usually by request (to exchange chapters or full manuscripts).

Beta readers are people who read your manuscript as a reader first (rather than a writer). Most of the time, beta readers are not writers.

A good CP will:

• Be kind and professional when providing any kind of feedback
• Be timely in their feedback and maintain agreed-upon deadlines
• Be attentive to the feedback you are looking for (such as big-picture editing vs. grammar)
• Find any faults or shortcomings in your writing (that you may have overlooked), including world-building holes, wonky pacing, pointing out when a character is two-dimensional, and much, MUCH more
• Show you the worst and best of your writing to help you to reach your full potential
• Provide specific recommendations for areas of improvement (without telling the writer how to write their story), and not simply “I don’t like this”
• Encourage you to write the best version of the story you want to write—and not the story they want to see

A good beta reader will do many of these things as well. However, since many beta readers are not writers, their feedback will not be as in-depth. For example, common feedback from beta readers might be something like: “I was bored in this section.” Then it’s up to you, the writer, to determine where your pacing lagged and how you can make that scene or chapter more engaging. (Unless, of course, you meant for the pacing in that chapter to slow down.)  

Finding a Critique Partner or Beta Reader Is a Lot Like Dating