How to Use Readers Instead of Editors [When Starting Out]

NOTE: If you can afford an editor you should always use an editor!

NOTE: Before I begin, let me be perfectly clear, that while this is one way to save some money if you are starting out and your wallet can’t handle certain expenses when it comes to the editing process, once you can afford to hire an editor you must do so. This is by no means a permanent solution. But it is a temporary one till you are able to expense editors for all of your work (past and present).

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There’s no denying, that the cost of editors is by and large the most costly for any indie author. Just one editor can cost up to ten times as much as that of a cover artist or formatter. Deciding where it’s best to put your money when you’re first starting out can be difficult and overwhelming. Which is why learning everything you can about the terms and tools readily at your disposal can lead to the answers you’ve been looking for.

I suggest reading my blog post on Alpha, Beta, and Gamma Readers first before proceeding. I am assuming you already have some knowledge of what each type of reader is, how they are used, when, and why.

All editors are professional. They have a degree. Went to college and learned how to edit. This is why they cost money. No editor does their job for free and the more in-depth their expertise the more they will cost an indie author out-of-pocket. If you want to learn more about that cost or about the three main types of editors that every writer should know, read this blog post here.

DEVELOPMENTAL EDITOR = ALPHA READER

A developmental editor is the most expensive editor you’ll ever hire. An average 90k novel (for fantasy authors mostly) can run you as much as $10,000 dollars or more! Yeah, that’s expensive. The low-end isn’t that far off the mark from that amount either. So, if you can offset that cost by way of readers, why not?

My suggestion would be to look for Alpha Readers. In short, an Alpha Reader is someone who is brought onto your project very early on. Right at the beginning. After your outlining/world-building phase, but before you start writing the first chapter. Get their thoughts on your idea for a story. Asking the right questions can be instrumental in getting the kind of information a developmental editor will provide.

Then, when you start writing your vomit draft, deliver those messy chapters to your Alpha Reader. Bring them on the crazy journey of your writing and let them give you their thoughts along the way. Those ideas you had during your outline or after, that you wonder if they can work, stick those in there and see if they get the reaction you were hoping for. Again, the key here will be in asking your Alpha Readers the right question. Don’t expect an Alpha Reader to go “in-depth” the way a developmental editor will. In many ways, you’ll need to ask leading questions to get them looking in the right direction.

It can prove to be more work (or more trouble) than you’re willing to put in, especially as this is your vomit draft and you already know it will look drastically different when finished. But think of the benefits:

1. You’ll probably need to make fewer changes or corrections when your Beta team gets their hands on the cleaner version of your manuscript.

2. Those loose ends and questions you had on which way to take the story will be answered so early on in the writing process that you’re less likely to have to unravel entire storylines or rewrite entire chapters to fix them. Saving you hours later on down the line.

To learn more about some general questions you can ask (or amend to suit your needs), be on the lookout for my continuing series, Editors and Readers.

LINE EDITOR = BETA READER

Once you’ve jumped the hurdle of completing your manuscript, self-editing it (yes, this is a must!), and passing it through the hands of Alpha Readers along the way, you’re ready for the next step.

Just a reminder that your Alpha Readers should not be the same as your Beta Readers. The reason? Well, you want fresh eyes on your clean manuscript. You might be inclined to think the better route is to have those who’ve read the crap read it again when it’s better and confirm that it’s better. But they are tainted. Because they’ve seen your manuscript at its worst, and know how much help they were to you in making it better, they are naturally biased towards seeing it as a better manuscript when it might still need some work. That’s not their fault, it’s just human nature.

Plus, you don’t want to abuse someone who is volunteering their time by asking them to reread your manuscript over and over again (and in a timely manner) so you can meet your deadline. You may want to call on them with the second book! Let them rest!

The Beta Reader is one you’re probably most familiar with. They should follow key criteria, the biggest among them is that they fall within your target audience. And if you go into this thinking “well, my book is for everyone,” you need to go back to the drawing board because trust me, you have a target audience. And the more you can target that person from their gender, age, culture, nationality, sexual preference, music faves, etc., the better off you’ll be with putting together your Beta Reader team. I don’t want to belabor the point but you wouldn’t want someone who is an avid romance reader to give you their thoughts on your book if you intend on marketing it as a Stephen King thriller. They may steer you in the wrong direction.

Also, might I suggest you have this team (and yes, it should be a team, not one person so you have a good collection of feedback to filter through) put in place as early as possible. During your vomit draft process even? Beta Readers are hard to come by and it might take you quite some time to find the right ones. The last thing you want to do is get finished with actioning notes from your Alpha Readers and have no Beta team to pass your manuscript to. The earlier the better.

And just like Alpha Readers, you’ll want to present your Beta Readers with a series of questions to guide them towards the kind of feedback they should give you. If you’re lucky, you’ll have Beta Readers who’ve done it before for someone else. But even then, the relationship dynamic they had with that author may not be the same kind you two will have. By providing questions you ease the burden for them to have to come up with feedback and they stress whether or not what they are telling you is helpful or not.

I also suggest sprinkling these questions every couple of chapters. Again, this helps to lighten the load for your Beta team. They’ll know questions are coming for them to answer, like homework, and anticipating that might help them just enjoy the story and stress about their thoughts when the questions come up.

A Line Editor will not only provide correction suggestions for grammar and punctuation, but they will also point out where the story may be falling flat or hitting a lull. Your Beta Reader should be encouraged to do the same for you. Tell them you want to know anytime they are bored or losing interest in your main character (or any character for that matter).

To learn more about some general questions you can ask (or amend to suit your needs), be on the lookout for my continuing series, Editors and Readers.

COPY EDITOR = GAMMA READER / PROOFREADER

I intentionally included proofreaders with Gamma Reader even though in some instances you’ll find proofreaders who charge money for their services, they are, as I’ve said in the past, they did not have to take any courses in order to call themself a proofreader. You can find proofreaders who volunteer their services and usually it’s because they are looking to fill their need to show experience.

This phase is after you’ve implemented the comments and feedback you received back from your Beta Team. You will have poured through your manuscript for weeks (or months) and made the necessary changes. And like the point I made of not having the same Alpha Reader as a Beta Reader, allow me to reiterate that point. Your Gamma Readers should not come from your Alpha or Beta team for much the same reason. You need fresh eyes on your manuscript especially for what you’ll be asking them to do: Find any and all typos!

That’s it. That’s the directive. Like a Copy Editor, you want your Gamma Readers to be the last line of defense before you hit the almighty PUBLISH button and expect people to pay money for your book. In this case, find anyone willing to do it. Whether they are in your target audience or not. As long as they understand what their purpose is. They should not be giving you their thoughts on story structure or flow or anything like that. You’ve done all that and your book won’t appeal to everyone. You know that better than anyone by now, right? All you need from them is to point out mistakes that you may have missed because you’ve been staring at your manuscript longer than anyone. It’s totally possible that you missed something and not all grammar programs are 100% accurate. They have been known to miss something too.

To learn more be on the lookout for my continuing series, Editors and Readers.

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It can be easy to get overwhelmed by all that I just offloaded here, but take a deep breath and realize the timeline between each phase of your manuscript is very far apart. In fact, might I suggest reading my blog post on how you can easily write and release a novel implementing editors and readers and your own editing in under a year here?

I hope you found this information helpful and remember when you can afford it, hire an editor and then keep your reader teams as a backup or just another line of defense.