Christian Beta Readers discussion
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How to be a reviewer after beta reader
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This is such a great guide! Well done.
Even if you have a thousand critiques about a manuscript, you can nearly always find something to appreciate or enjoy about a story. By mentioning the good areas to the authors, you are doing two things:
1. Making them more receptive to less positive feedback.
2. Highlighting the best parts of their stories (AKA which parts they should spend more time on in development).
A small thing I would add: Ask the authors what type of feedback they are searching before you start reading. This will save a lot of headaches on both sides and may prevent you from creating more work for yourself than necessary.
1. In general, you want to be as positive as you can honestly be whenever you speak to an author about their work, especially as you're going beyond error reports and the technical facets of grammar or the ease of comprehension. Do your best to highlight and emphasize the best qualities of the book and all of your favorite aspects at all times. And when it comes to the layout of any report or review, you'll want to start with the positive, letting the negative come after (this part of the tip being based off of scientific studies that show the first few words of a communication to be better received than the rest).
2. If you're writing a review for the public eye, you need keep in mind that you don't want to spoil a tale for others with too many details, while most authors will love to hear as many details about your delight in their book as you can muster. For both kinds of reviews, consider the mood, the pace, the unique art and style of the text itself, the composure of the overall plot, the side stories, the main and side characters and their development, descriptions, the action/adventure and excitement, your own emotional journey, the cleverness and whit of certain lines, and any other details that get your attention.
3. When you have more to say about the cons than the pros, it is often best to put a stricter cap (limit) on the number of words you use to point out the parts that you don't personally enjoy. As Christians, we do have the responsibility to love others as we would love ourselves. We need to acknowledge the fact that some people are more sensitive than others, and realize that human beings and their hearts will always be more important and valuable than any book or opinion. And yet, we also don't want to be too cautious, as we still want to be real with people. There is a balance to be found here, where we confess a displeasure out of a loving desire to help the author see something that they themselves cannot see without our help. We can forget our purpose in what we are doing when we speak of a personal and unpleasant experience, so we have to be intent in remembering that purpose of godly love, often specifically telling the author that you are informing them out of a loving respect.
4. Do not assume that people know what they are asking for when they put a demand on your (deeper) opinion. If you have read and did not like their book, yet the author won't leave you alone concerning your real opinion, you are in a very testing and trying situation. There are times where you need to plainly state that they do not want to hear your opinion, and depending on the situation, it may even be best to refuse to give an extra honest and open opinion, in spite of their continued requests. Do apologize and let them know that it's out of godly love and respect that you refuse. Not all will understand, and you must be certain that you believe that the author's pain in hearing that refusal will yet be less than the pain of your deeper thoughts being revealed to them. There are indeed some thoughts that will not help the author at all if you were to offer them, and it is those that you want to keep to yourself.
5. If you intend to be honest with an author and do not love what they wrote 100%, you need to inform and/or remind them that you are not judging [them] but are simply judging their book as a reader and would-be customer, in other words, you are looking at a product and object. Because a majority of books come from the heart, it is all too easy for someone to feel judged and condemned [themselves] when someone doesn't truly enjoy their book, else has difficulty enjoying their book for technical reasons that may not have much to do with the book itself. Often, you need to state just why you have a negative opinion, and explain to the author that it is just your own opinion, not a fact of their failure, and not how everyone else will feel, as there are plenty of people out there that will enjoy that book, even though you don't. And perhaps, on rare occasions, you'll need state something about how silly, fickle, and random the human opinion can be, as no one is always right besides God, who has perfect vision and perspective on everything, while we human beings can tend to think we know everything when we know nothing (it just might help to say that your opinion is only worth so much in the end).
6. If you're writing a review for the public at the author's request, it's best to type it out and send it to the author first, especially if you're daring to say just why the book isn't perfect. You do not want to post a review that the author does not want posted, even because you worked with them personally, and even as an acquaintance, you now hold a position in their lives that can yet be equated with that of a good friend in this area. If the book is really hard to appreciate or the message is terribly disagreeable, and you'd want to warn other people, let a stranger, someone else, post their own review on it, as there is no need to rant after you've given your time to an author that was only asking for help when you agreed to help them.