: Re: Are "non-readers" useful beta readers? In my opinion, the best beta readers are fellow writers, partly because they may have insight others don't, but partly also because you can agree to trade

I would say that yes, they are useful, but not on their own.

To get the best overview of your book, it's probably best to get a wide range of readers to preview your book, from "non-readers" to writers of similar types of work as you are writing.

Think of it like doing a test screening of a movie, where you've only invited people who have read the book that the movie is based on. They may all love everything about the movie, even if there are huge chunks of exposition missing, but that is because they already have the background knowledge from the book. When it is released, if someone who hasn't read the book watches it then they will have no clue what is going on, as no one initially gave feedback that relevant plot points were missing.

In a similar way, fellow writers may understand exactly why certain things are happening, for example an exposition dump at the beginning of the story, as they know this information will be needed later. However, a regular reader may assume that the story is entirely just information thrown at them, so would stop reading before they get to the exciting parts.

So it is useful to get someone who isn't as versed in the type of writing that you are creating, as they can give you an opinion without any preconceptions of what your writing is supposed to be. The very fact that they don't have expectations can be useful in finding issues with your work.

Overall, having their opinions cannot hurt, as a broader range of beta readers will be more helpful than only having a single homogeneous group of readers. However, if these specific beta readers are not your target audience, you may have to weigh how useful their advice is when taking their criticisms on board, compared to other readers who will be more likely to read your completed work.

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