The video above is part of Self-Publishing Secrets, my YouTube series on everything I’ve learned self-publishing my books, fiction and nonfiction. This one covers the two groups of people who read your book before it comes out: beta readers and ARC readers. The written version is below, links included. Let’s dive in.

Beta readers are your army of early readers. They read your finished draft and help you shape your last round of rewrites before the book gets locked. ARC readers come after that: members of the press, podcast hosts, book reviewers, and retail reviewers who read an advance copy so they can review it and spread the word when the book goes live.

When I was starting out with The Nomad Detective, I’d heard both terms, but I had to figure out how to actually use these readers on my own. I wish I’d had a guide, because they are so helpful.

📖 Beta readers shape the rewrite

Beta readers come in once your book is finished. When Let Me Be Your Ghost went out to beta readers, it was a complete draft at about 60,000 words, built on material I’d been developing for almost 10 years.

Every author approaches this differently, but generally beta readers are unpaid. (If you need a very quick turnaround, a small payment is sometimes offered.) In exchange, they get a thank-you in the acknowledgments and a free copy of the finished ebook once you’re done editing. They’re people who want to support you: friends, family, fellow writers, your community.

A lot of my beta readers came from my Substacks, Make Writing Your Job and Sutoscience. For Write for Money and Power, I asked who wanted to be a beta reader, and over 90 people raised their hands. It was honestly life-changing. People saw things in that book that went right over my head, and some of the best notes came from readers who didn’t like it, because they showed me what was a taste thing and what I had poorly articulated.

Every reader enters your book with their own emotional landscape (their taste, their history, where they grew up), so beta readers work almost like market research. If all of them agree on something, you should probably listen. If one reader has a one-off note, you can often solve it in the draft, or hang a lantern on it.

A manuscript page where a beta reader's comment asks why a character blurts out a secret, and two new lines of dialogue call the secret out, highlighted in yellow

Hanging a lantern means putting the reader’s question right into the story. Say a beta reader thinks your character sounds dumb for blurting out a secret. Have another character call it out (”Wasn’t that supposed to be a secret?”) and let your main character answer (”It was. I just had to tell you.”). Now the reader doesn’t bump on it, and keeping them reading all the way through is the goal of every rewrite.

🔍 Where to find beta readers

There aren’t many websites for beta readers. The biggest source is actually Facebook groups. Search “beta readers” on Facebook, answer the questions to get approved into a group, follow the group rules, then post a call for beta readers with a link to an application form.

I always use an application. It makes people feel like they’re getting exclusive access to your book, and it helps you find the serious readers who would also be open to leaving a review on Amazon or Goodreads when the book is out.

An example beta reader application asking what you usually read, why you want to beta read, and whether you're open to reviewing on Amazon or Goodreads

🚩 The AI red flags

With Let Me Be Your Ghost, I started getting a strange kind of application answer: multi-paragraph, very polished, and missing anything specific. It didn’t mention the book by name, or it was vague about why, even though the question was literally “Why do you want to be a beta reader?”

Some of those applicants said yes to reading the book and then asked for payment. Others fed the book into AI and sent me an AI summary of “notes” (a 13-page document for the first two chapters), plus a price range for the rest of the book.

A polished, generic beta reader application answer flagged for being multi-paragraph, saying nothing specific, never naming the book, and asking to be paid

My beta reader role is unpaid, a trade, and I say so up front. Beta reading is a lovely way to hone your skills, get to know authors, and see how your feedback is received.

If you want to get paid to edit, though, apply to paid editing roles on Upwork, Contra, or our writing job board at Make Writing Your Job. Start your rate low and raise it from there.

✍️ My one ask: 3 things you liked, 3 you didn’t

Every time I post a call for beta readers, I ask the same thing: read the book, then send me 3 things you liked and 3 things you didn’t. Everyone gets their own Google Doc with their name on it. Highlights and margin notes are welcome, but totally optional. I keep the bar very, very low because this is unpaid.

In exchange, everyone gets the book for free and a thank-you in the acknowledgments. For Let Me Be Your Ghost and Write for Money and Power, I also offered testimonials to beta readers building an editing practice, and I offered to promote them. So many generous souls went line by line anyway, catching typos and inconsistencies, way above and beyond. I’m so grateful for them.

Amy's beta reader ask, 3 things you liked and 3 things you didn't, next to a shared Google Doc of beta notes where highlights are optional

📚 ARC readers spread the word

Once you’ve worked your beta readers’ notes into the draft, it’s time for ARC readers. ARC stands for advance reader copy, and you send those copies to members of the press, book reviewers, podcast hosts, Substack writers, and retail reviewers (the amazing people who review on Amazon and Goodreads to help other readers decide).

An early copy isn’t a one-to-one transaction. You can’t tell someone who requested your book that they now owe you a review, and you never interfere with the review they leave, good or bad. That’s the integrity of the process. (Some of my favorite books have the most horrendous one-star reviews.)

🗓 NetGalley, and when to send ARCs

NetGalley is the best ARC reader website I’ve ever used (not sponsored). It’s also expensive: about $500 for a listing that runs, I think, around 6 months. You list your book once the EPUB is locked (plus a PDF, maybe), readers request it, and you approve, decline, or block people. You can see each reader’s average review rating, and NetGalley reports who downloaded the book, who started reading, and who left feedback.

An illustration of listing a book on NetGalley for about $500, approving reader requests by their average rating, and more reviews lifting a book on Amazon and Goodreads

When readers leave lovely feedback, I email them a thank-you and ask whether they’d post their review on Goodreads and Amazon once the book is live. You can follow up a few times (up to 5), and then you’re done. Don’t ask members of the press for retail reviews, because they review on their own platforms. And you can never incentivize reviews. “Leave me a review and I’ll give you a discount” is off the table.

Some authors send ARCs 6 months out so the press has time to read. I’d say at least a month and a half to two months before launch. I’m a little bit of a chaos agent here: my ARC readers for Let Me Be Your Ghost get the book about a month before it comes out on November 18.

It can take thousands of readers to get to 100 Amazon reviews. Which brings me to the part that makes all of this easier.

💌 Why it all comes back to your email list

Every time I look for beta readers or ARC readers, I send the call to my email list first. It lives right here on Substack, and there’s a QR code at the back of my books so readers can join. On social media, you can post to a huge audience and have only 300 people see it, because the algorithm decides who does. An email lands in the inbox most of the time.

Here’s what surprised me: a big share of my preorders come from the people who beta read or ARC read for me, even though they already get the book free. Kevin Kelly popularized the idea of 1,000 true fans. Run it for books and it’s 10,000 readers buying a book that earns you $7. Those true fans stick with you book after book, and they’re the reason I get to do this as my job.

👻 Read Let Me Be Your Ghost early

My romantic thriller Let Me Be Your Ghost comes out November 18, and I’m looking for ARC readers (free early ebook, no reading deadline).

👻 apply to be an ARC reader here!

You can also preorder it from any retailer in hardcover, paperback, or Kindle, and I’ll send you my unreleased book How to Write a Memoir for free. Just upload your order confirmation on this page.

Tell me in the comments: are you self-publishing a book right now? I’d love to hear about it.

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See you around my creative lab this week,

-Amy

p.s. know an author who’s about to launch their book? feel free to share this with them!

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💡 Sutoscience by Amy Suto

💡 Beta Readers vs. ARC Readers: How I Find…