: 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

@Ogunnowo420

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Rarely. If they don't read, its probably because they don't care to and don't have the time. Which means giving them a work of any size will not lead to a read book. Worse, if your book isn't near completion, they likely won't have the tolerance for mistakes or bad writing. They likely won't know what to look for, either.

I think the rare exception to this is when you are almost done and you've already gone through a revision pass with experts. If you are aiming for a market that you think the non-reader would be in if only they got the right entry level book, and that book is yours, then its a pretty good test. But that means you're likely writing something fast paced in YA. Its not likely to be a good idea if you're writing something slower & aimed at a literary audience or experienced audience who has thought long and hard about your field.

There are always exceptions to the rules, but the people who aren't readers who are likely to finish the work are going to do it mostly because they like you and they won't be good at giving feedback, so it may not be worth your time or theirs.

Anecdotally, the book I wrote last year I gave to people who I knew were readers and a couple non-readers who had expressed interest. Only those closest to me made it to the end, and one of them I had to "forcibly" sit down and read it to them. This was still helpful because its clear the work isn't good enough for even light readers to move past the 3rd chapter. But, if I'm being honest, the word of writers hasn't been particularly helpful either and they have no time and are constantly depressed for not having faith or time for their own work.

The best readers are, imo, published authors or people in the industry, but until you struggle and reach a certain level of skill that door won't be open to you unless you have good connections or money. Which means the only reader you can ever really rely on is yourself unless you're really lucky and or do the work to seek out a good writing group and are lucky enough to have one in your area or find one online.

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