Why You Need a Beta Readers and How to Find the Right One(s) for You

“Poetry world runs on friendships”

-Angela Narcisso Torres, quoted from The Poetry Saloncast

Intro

Virginia Wolff articulated this so well in A Room of One’s Own. “(The world) does not ask people to write poems and novels and histories; it does not need them. It does not care …” Nevertheless, poets do in fact write, in spite of the fact that “the world” does not care, though it is difficult. A lot of folks I know go back to school for an MFA or attend workshops not just because they need the education or inspiration but because they need the accountability and the encouragement. They need someone to care. The point of writing is not to spend hours alone in our heads day-dreaming or journaling, but to share our ideas and see if and how they land. Most of us cannot afford to go to a workshop every time we want feedback on a poem or pay an editor once we’ve finished the next draft of our manuscript. That's why it is so useful to have beta readers, friends who will help us out, setting deadlines, getting support, both moral and artistic, while we wait for the accolades given out by strangers to find their way to our doors.

Where do You Find Good Beta Readers

You can rely on anybody to become a beta reader – your little sister, your best friend, your spouse. Billy Collins, in his ad for Masterclass, says he reads to his cat for feedback. If you just want someone to read and tell you what they like and don’t like, you can probably go to anyone, but if you want really useful, informed advice, it’s best to turn to a fellow poet who knows about the craft. That’s why I look for beta readers in workshops where I’m sure to meet poets who are dedicated to learning and growing and who want to read and edit other people’s books because they know that editing another person’s work is one of the best ways to grow their own.

Ten years ago I founded The Poetry Salon (shameless plug) to give poets a place where they can drop in, write together and get feedback at an affordable price. Poets make friends and meet beta readers or book reviewers there. Today you can get access to all kinds of workshops, especially on substack for something as low as $5 - 10 a month, which makes it easier than ever to learn about the craft of writing without going back to the university system, and to find your ideal writing buddy for a feedback exchange.

What Makes an Ideal Beta Reader

When looking for a beta reader it’s ideal to find someone who is going to appreciate your writing, but also offer you a different perspective. In my life the two beta readers I’ve worked with most are my friends, Kelly Cressio Moeller, author of Shade of Blue Trees (Two Sylvias Press) and Kelly Grace Thomas, author of Boat Burned, (YesYes Books, 2020). Both are women I met in workshops. Both are intense readers who introduced me to other poets whose work I needed to learn from, and who encourage and push me to be more “myself” but also to get past some of my typical stumbling blocks and tics.

Kelly Cressio-Moeller, for example, introduced me to Joni Mitchelle’s album Blue, which I listened to on a loop all through my late twenties and which inspired more emotional depth in my lyrical poems about loneliness and stars.

Kelly Grace Thomas gets me to ask questions like “What is at stake in this poem?” “How do we get there faster?” and “Can you find an image that’s a little fresher than stars?”

Above all, both are kind and encouraging. Both put the “ball back in my court” and never insist that I adopt any style but my own.

How do I Find My “Target Audience?”

Right now I’m writing a book about my experiences being a young woman in the early 2000s. I’m doing a feedback exchange with two other poets in my demographic. One, Jen Gupta, left the teaching profession on a cross-country road trip in a camper to figure out America and where/how she fits into it. Another, TR Poulson, is writing about her terrible experiences with dating. As we read each other’s work, we make notes like “I can so relate to this” and “I really needed this poem.” It is therapeutic, and it reminds me why I am writing and who I am writing for.

It gives me perspective on how to fill in holes in the manuscript, what I can say that nobody else is saying, or how I can speak directly to people who face issues I’ve also faced or am still facing now. Reading work through this book-exchange has given me some of the poetry prompts I’ve needed to continue fleshing out my own work while also offering them feedback on their work as well.

Do I Need More Than One Beta Reader?

We all know that writing is subjective. To get feedback from one person means you’re really just what that one person likes and doesn’t like, but if you show a book to three people and they all say “this one poem doesn’t fit” or “this feels like it should be the first poem in the collection,” it can help you understand something a little closer to an objective truth about your writing (not that such a thing even exists).

What if you get jealous of your beta reader?

I found this very useful article about how to turn jealousy into a positive motivator here. It’s a great article and I hope you read the full thing, but the bullet point is that if you work with a great beta reader, you will likely have jealousy. When your beta reader gets a book deal before you do or wins a major prize. Jealousy is your brain and heart’s way of telling you that you want something another person has. If you feel jealous, instead of getting angry, get curious. What is this person doing differently from you to get where they are? Are they putting in more hours? Attending more workshops? Taking more risks? One of the great things about learning from a poet like Kelly Grace Thomas is that I know her success comes from lots of talent, but also lots of hard work. Sometimes when I get jealous of her success I have to remind myself that she has put in so many hours. Then I ask myself, “do you want to work harder?” Sometimes the answer is “yes,” and so I set aside extra time to do things I have seen Kelly do, like submit 100 poems a year, attend more workshops, edit and re-edit my writing, aim higher, etc. I’m using positive peer pressure to spur me on, and Kelly has given me some great ideas about how to follow a road-map. Other times, the answer to the question “do you want to work harder?” is “no.” I shrug my shoulders, get back in my hammock, and eat a mango, grateful for having whatever it is I do have.

Include them in your success

One of the best things about having beta readers is that when the manuscript does get published, you have a built-in group of poets who will help you celebrate your accomplishment and launch your book into the world. When I got my first copies of When the Moon Had Antlers and wanted to publicly show it off, I asked my primary beta reader, Kelly, and my original beta reader, Kelly Cressio-Moeller, to open for me. It was like a little reunion among friends, but then we got to include more friends in the fun.

About The Author

Tresha Faye Haefner’s poetry appears, or is forthcoming in several journals and magazines, most notably Blood Lotus, Blue Mesa Review, The Cincinnati Review, Five South, Hunger Mountain, Mid-America Review, Pirene’s Fountain, Poet Lore, Prairie Schooner, Radar, Rattle, TinderBox and Up the Staircase Quarterly. Her work has garnered several accolades, including the 2011 Robert and Adele Schiff Poetry Prize, and a 2012, 2020, and 2021 nomination for a Pushcart. Her first manuscript, "Pleasures of the Bear" was a finalist for prizes from both Moon City Press and Glass Lyre Press. It was published by Pine Row Press under the title When the Moon Had Antlers in 2023. Find her at www.thepoetrysalon.com.