Beta reading is a “test” reading of an unpublished manuscript – essentially an extended, professional reader response aimed at the writer rather than at a general audience. I provide thoughtful, structured feedback on how your manuscript reads as a whole, helping you understand what’s working, what isn’t, and where you might want to focus your revisions.

Feedback is usually delivered as a Reading Report of around 3,000–5,000 words for a standard-length novel. This focuses on the big picture of the manuscript – my experience as a reader – rather than line-by-line correction. The exact shape of the report can be tailored to your needs, but it typically covers the most important and noticeable aspects of your manuscript.

Is beta reading right for me?

Beta reading can be useful at a range of points in your writing process.

You might have a rough early draft and feel unsure how to move it forward, or a more polished manuscript and want a final sense-check from a reader before moving on to more detailed editing.

In both cases, what matters is that you’ve taken the manuscript as far as you currently can on your own, and would benefit from an informed outside perspective.

How I approach feedback

My Reading Reports are focused and selective by design. Rather than working through every element of your manuscript in turn, I concentrate on the aspects that had the strongest impact on my reading experience, both positive and negative.

This means that if something doesn’t feature heavily in your report, it’s usually because it didn’t stand out as an issue (or a particular strength), rather than because it was overlooked. In practice, this might mean a report focuses heavily on (for example) character, pacing or point of view, depending on what stood out most during the read.

If you have specific questions or areas you’d like me to focus on, I’m very happy to work around that.

• If you provide a template or detailed list of questions, I will answer these directly (with depth adjusted depending on scope)
• If you highlight a few key focus areas, I’ll make sure to address these alongside my usual approach

For a closer look at my writing and feedback style, please view/download the sample Reading Report below.

Turnaround

Beta reading is something I do chiefly out of personal interest and a desire to contribute to the community, rather than something I can realistically make a living out of, and this is reflected in a typical turnaround of around four weeks.

That said, this may be open to negotiation so if you have a particular need, do ask me and I’ll see what I can do. Equally, sometimes I’m more busy than usual and the turnaround may look longer.

In any case, the turnaround will always be agreed up front and won’t change without your agreement.

Pricing

I charge £20 + £1 per 1,000 words* for beta reading.

Examples:

• 82,359 words → £102.40
• 33,740 words → £53.70

*Rounded and calculated to the nearest 100, according to MS Word’s word count of the full document.

A note on short stories

I’m happy to beta read short stories and collections.

• If you’d like individual feedback on each story, these are usually priced separately
• If you’re working with a larger collection or would prefer lighter feedback, we can agree a different structure

Alternatively, if you’re primarily interested in how the collection works as a whole (themes, cohesion, standout pieces), I’m happy to approach it in the same way as a novel.

If you’re at a stage where you’d benefit from a reader’s perspective on your work, feel free to get in touch, and I’ll be happy to take a look and discuss how I can help.