After finishing a draft, writers are both wildly excited and dreadfully fearful of sharing their finished book with anyone and everyone. If harnessed, the anxiety could power a medium-sized city for roughly three thousand years.

Yet one of the steps in improving a draft is sharing it with beta readers. These lucky (or unlucky) friends, family members, and strangers get to read the roughest version, often full of typos, grammatical errors, and even glaring plot holes.

But for the writer, it is a crucial time to get real, honest feedback. It is a chance to see if characters are relatable, or if a particular scene hits with the emotional “oomph” that was intended.

In order to get the best feedback, writers need to ask the best questions. Before I sent out my draft, I scoured the internet for suggestions. There are great ideas out there, and I definitely ‘borrowed’ (read: stole) ideas from a wide variety of sources. In the end, I tweaked and whittled down the seemingly-unending possibilities to 23 key questions.

And in the spirit of community, I would like to offer them to the world… or whoever stumbles upon this site. Please feel free to edit, tweak, or straight-up steal these questions for your beta readers.

I divided the questions into four categories: The Beginning; Characters; Storyline/Plot; and Odds & Ends. This seemed the best organizational strategy for me, but you may want to jumble them all up, or ask questions chronologically related to your story. You do you.

When I sent the draft to a beta reader, I included these questions in a GoogleDoc that also provided some background for them about how to approach the draft. None of the questions contain spoilers, so beta readers could read them before diving into the manuscript. And I let readers know that they could jot down answers in the GoogleDoc (I created a separate doc for each beta reader) or just be prepared to chat about them when we talked.

Ok, enough rambling. Here is what I sent folks (with a few minor redactions relating specifically to my book):

Dear [beta readers],

Thank you again for agreeing to be an early reader of my book. I hope it is a fun and worthwhile experience for you, and I look forward to hearing what you think.

To set expectations: The book is an upper-YA fantasy novel that contains some violence that some readers may be uncomfortable with. It is about 100,000 words. To put that in perspective, imagine a book that is roughly 300 pages, give or take.

A Few Requests:

• Approach this book as a reader. You may be a writer/editor yourself, but please act as if you bought this book or checked it out from a library.
• Be honest. Please be honest about parts you like and explain why, so I can learn. And please be honest about parts that you didn’t like (were jarring/uncomfortable/boring/just plain bad), and why, so I can learn. I am looking for your honest reactions – whether surprise, boredom, sadness, confusion, anger, or whatever else.
• Use Examples. If possible, please be as specific as possible when giving your thoughts. If a part was boring, please let me know the chapter(s). If the dialogue didn’t sound natural, please note the specific line(s). And if something made you smile, please also let me know what.
• Have fun!
• THANK YOU! I really cannot thank you enough.

Beginning:

• Did the story grab your interest in the first 10-20 pages? If yes, which part(s)? If not, why not? [NOTE: This is important because agents usually request the first 5-25 pages, and you want to make sure these pages are gripping and polished!]
• When was the first time you put the book down (after or in the middle of what chapter)?

Characters:

• Did each of the main characters have their own motivation and their own voice?
• Are there any characters who don’t contribute to the plot and could be omitted?
• Were the character relationships (to each other and to the world) believable?
• Were there any parts where any characters were acting out of character?
• Did the dialogue sound natural? If not, whose dialogue stood out as unnatural?
• Could you relate to [Main Character 1]? Were there times she was more relatable? Less relatable? What are your thoughts/feelings on her character arc (how she grew and evolved throughout the book)?
• What are your thoughts/feelings on [Main Character 2]’s character arc?
• If you could choose, which character should get more “screen time” and why?
• If you could have a beer with one character, who would it be and why?

Storyline/Plot:

• Was there a point at which the story dragged or you became uninterested?
• Were there any parts that were confusing or you had to re-read to understand?
• Did the world seem vivid or flat? What was your favorite part(s) of the world, and what parts, if any, need more description to feel real?
• What are your thoughts on the magic system? Was the concept adequately explained?
• Did you notice any inconsistencies in time sequences, places, character details, etc.?
• Did any scene make you laugh/cry/happy/angry/throw your device? Which one(s)? Please explain.
• Was there any part of the book (world, characters, plots) that felt like an overused trope?
• Was the ending of the book satisfying? Believable?
• Did you have any favorite lines? Which one(s)?

Odds & Ends:

• What other book(s) or author(s) did the book remind you of? [NOTE: This is a great question to ask if you are wondering what comps to use for your query letter.]
• Was there anything in the book you found to be problematic (Race, gender, sexism, portrayal of religion, violence, stereotypes, etc.)? [NOTE: This question can be especially important if your book contains characters/issues that are outside of your own experience. For example, my book contains an LGBTQ couple, and I made sure that I had a member of that community as a beta reader, and specifically asked them to pay attention to my portrayal of that couple.]
• Anything else you want to tell me that wasn’t covered in the previous questions?

That’s it. Are there other questions you think writers should ask beta readers? Let me know in the comments!