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Over the course of the last couple years, I’ve learned a lot about having those awesome people called beta readers. They are a wonderful group of people who help make my stories all they can be by providing valuable feedback before publication.
One of the first things I noticed with my first round of beta readers was that I wasn’t getting the specific feedback that I was looking for from some of them. The problem was that I hadn’t given them enough direction, giving them the questions I wanted answered. With my first book especially, I wasn’t even sure what those questions were.
I’ve done some digging and incorporated questions from various authors who have well worded questionnaires. I can’t recall all of the sources, but one was author Dannika Dark.
Now I have my own questionnaire, and I’ve had a lot of requests to see and use it. Rather than giving it to each author individually, I’m posting it here for anyone who would like to use it.
Authors, feel free to take all or part of the questionnaire as it applies to your stories. Horror authors, for example, will have some questions that aren’t asked here. Those without romance in their books will want to remove those questions.
Thank you for taking the time to read my story! Please read the questions before starting the story, so they’ll be in the back of your mind as you’re reading.
Opening:
Were the first paragraphs and first page compelling? Did they make you want to keep reading? If not, what was the problem?
Did you get oriented fairly quickly at the beginning as to whose story it is, what’s going on, and where and when it’s taking place? If not, what were you confused about at the beginning?
Did the story continue to hold your interest through the first few chapters? Or is there a point where your interest started to lag?
Characters:
Were there characters that needed development or focus?
Could you relate to the main character? Did you feel her/his pain, joy, fears, worry, excitement?
Which characters did you connect to and like? (Or love to hate?)
Are there any characters you think could be made more interesting or more likable?
Could the bad guy(s) be nastier or more interesting? How?
Did you get confused about who’s who in the characters? Are there too many characters to keep track of? Are any of the names or characters too similar?
Did the main characters have chemistry and did their relationship make sense?
Which side characters are you curious to know more about after reading this installment?
Romance:
Did you have to reread any part of the romantic scenes or interactions to figure out what was going on?
Did any of the romantic dialogue or interactions make you cringe?
Did anything make you feel uncomfortable? What and how?
How well did you think the relationship developed between the couple and how did it serve the story?
Dialogue:
Did the dialogue sound natural to you? If not, whose dialogue did you think sounded artificial?
Setting:
Were you able to visualize where and when the story is taking place?
Did the setting pull you in, and did the descriptions seem vivid and real to you?
Plot, Pacing, Scenes:
Was the story interesting to you? Did it drag in parts? Where?
Which scenes/paragraphs/lines did you really like?
Which parts were exciting and should be elaborated on, with more details?
Which parts bored you and should be compressed or even deleted? What parts did you dislike or not like as much?
Was there anything that confused, frustrated, or annoyed you?
What parts resonated with you and/or moved you emotionally?
Did you understand every phrase / term I used? If not, which ones?
Did you notice any discrepancies or inconsistencies in time sequences, places, character details, plot, etc.?
Visual:
Can you SEE every action clearly?
If you went there in real life, would you recognize the places? If not, elaborate.
Did you have to reread any part of the ACTION SEQUENCES to understand who was doing what? List any issues lines/paragraphs that didn’t make sense and required a re-read.
Could you SEE what the characters looked like clearly? If not, who?
Writing Style/Tone/Voice:
Do you think the writing style fits the story and genre? If not, why not?
Ending:
Was the ending satisfying?
Was the ending believable?
Grammar, spelling, punctuation:
While you were reading, did you notice any obvious, repeating grammatical, spelling, punctuation or capitalization errors?
Notes:
In your opinion, what are the main strengths of the story? The main weaknesses of the story?
Anything additional you want to add?
This is an excellent list. I’m bookmarking it and sharing it 🙂
Thanks so much, Jeri. I hope it helps you with your beta readers.
Oh, amazing! I have yet to send mine out to betas, but I thank you for these questions! Very helpful!
You’re very welcome. I hope the list helps 🙂
Great list of questions, Stacy. They’ll be very useful when my next manuscript gets to that stage.
Thank you, Melanie. I’m glad you’ll find the list useful!
This is an excellent list. They’ll be very useful when my next manuscript gets to that stage. Thank you for these questions.
You’re very welcome. I hope they help!
Thanks so much for this comprehensive list of questions, Stacy! This is an absolute godsend! My book will be in the hands of my beta readers in a few weeks and I’m thrilled to have this list to work with.
I’m so glad you find it helpful, Reese! Best of luck with your book. 🙂
I would love to be a beta reader. Sometimes I wonder if books have been edited by someone who speaks English as a second language. In several books that I have read recently, the typographical errors are numerous. As a 37 year veteran of the English classroom. I often notice typos and would love to correct them in order for the plot to flow more smoothly.
Hi Debbie,
I would love to have you on my team. If you haven’t already signed up, you can find my form here: https://stacyclaflin.com/2015/04/04/looking-for-new-beta-readers-betareaders/
Have a wonderful day!
Never even knew these things were actual something that we could use as writers. So, now I’m going to use this, many thanks for the useful information. I hope that it helps me the way it’s helped others.
Wow! thank you so much for this! I tend to work with a lot of brand new authors as I am still fairly new to Beta Reading and they don’t always have an idea of what they really want answered or what they need! Thanks for sharing this awesome list!
Love this!! Thank You for creating this post and list!! I was wondering what questions I could put together when I start looking for beta readers. You have helped me out alot with this post!! Thanks again!! 🙂 😉
I’m so glad it helped! 🙂
Thank you so much, Stacy! I’ve been looking for a list of questions to ask my Beta Readers and these are wonderful!
This is a great list of questions for my beta readers.
I hope that their responses give me direction and incentive to revise (if necessary) and get the novel out to the larger PAYING audience.
(Insert fingers crossed here.)
Good luck, Bernadette! I’ve found these questions are really helpful with the revisions to create a story readers can’t put down. It really gets to the core issues. And even going over the questions as the author can help shape the story before writing or in the 2nd draft phase.
Stacy:
I’m getting ready to hit the beta reader trail for my first story. Do you use mostly True/False & Multiple-Choice questions? Or do you use fill in the blank/textbox questions? Do you use an online survey tool? If so, any recommendations on which one(s) to use?
BTW, somewhere in there I’m sure I said great list of questions and thank you for sharing!
Hi Michael,
I’ve typically sent it as a Word document or included at the end of a mobi file. You could create a Google Doc or set it up however works for you! Good luck!
This helps a bunch! I am using this as a springboard for my Beta Readers.
I’m so glad! Best of luck!
Thank you for sharing this! It is just about perfect! I send my first novel to beta readers in about a month!
Great list! I will incorporate some of your items into my questionnaire. Thanks for sharing!