Romance Beta Reader & Sensitivity Reader
Services for Authors
Why a professional beta reader?
Ideally, beta readers are free. They're often family, friends, members of your writing group, or maybe readers you connect with on Facebook or Goodreads. (If you're looking for light feedback from an editor, though, that's a manuscript assessment/critique, not a beta read.) I'm an advocate for free beta readers!
But romance authors know it can be hard to get quality beta reader feedback: some beta readers give short and vague feedback, some beta readers do nothing but praise because they're either afraid to hurt your feelings or they think magic shoots from your fingertips, and some beta readers never send you their feedback at all. Worse, if your beta reader isn't well read in your specific genre, their feedback may actually lead you astray.
Enter the Romance Refined beta reader team: professional romance beta readers guaranteed to give you thorough, honest, and timely feedback from your target audience.
But romance authors know it can be hard to get quality beta reader feedback: some beta readers give short and vague feedback, some beta readers do nothing but praise because they're either afraid to hurt your feelings or they think magic shoots from your fingertips, and some beta readers never send you their feedback at all. Worse, if your beta reader isn't well read in your specific genre, their feedback may actually lead you astray.
Enter the Romance Refined beta reader team: professional romance beta readers guaranteed to give you thorough, honest, and timely feedback from your target audience.
What do you get with every Romance Refined beta read?
I've developed a feedback form with 80+ questions for your reader to fill out, which will enable you to make targeted revisions where needed while also feeling reassured about what's already golden.
The process is anonymous on both sides, so your beta reader won't be biased going into the read and they can feel comfortable answering honestly without fear of reprisal.
You choose whether the reader has 1, 2, or 3 weeks* to read your manuscript and submit their feedback.
You can request whether you want a reader who is also a writer or editor, or a reader who has no writing or editing aspirations of their own.
Best of all, your beta reader will be well read in your romance subgenre, including your specific tropes, so they'll truly represent your market and know a hit–or a miss–when they see one.
You can also rest easy knowing all my readers have signed non-disclosure agreements, guaranteeing your story will remain protected.
We accept sweet, sensual, and erotic romance heat levels. (This service isn't a good fit for the erotica genre, which falls outside of the romance genre.)
Still feeling unsure about the whole beta read concept? An editor colleague at Liminal Pages has a wonderful 3-part blog series on beta readers that explains the value of beta reading.
The process is anonymous on both sides, so your beta reader won't be biased going into the read and they can feel comfortable answering honestly without fear of reprisal.
You choose whether the reader has 1, 2, or 3 weeks* to read your manuscript and submit their feedback.
You can request whether you want a reader who is also a writer or editor, or a reader who has no writing or editing aspirations of their own.
Best of all, your beta reader will be well read in your romance subgenre, including your specific tropes, so they'll truly represent your market and know a hit–or a miss–when they see one.
You can also rest easy knowing all my readers have signed non-disclosure agreements, guaranteeing your story will remain protected.
We accept sweet, sensual, and erotic romance heat levels. (This service isn't a good fit for the erotica genre, which falls outside of the romance genre.)
Still feeling unsure about the whole beta read concept? An editor colleague at Liminal Pages has a wonderful 3-part blog series on beta readers that explains the value of beta reading.
Do you need to include a sensitivity read or accuracy read?
If you're writing a character with a lifestyle, background, or hardship that differs from your personal lived experiences, a sensitivity reader with firsthand insight is the best way to ensure you avoid publishing a story with inadvertent stereotypes or emotionally harmful content.
Or maybe you want an accuracy reader to check whether you authentically depicted things like your story's location or something your characters knows how to do.
And sometimes you just want to test story reception from a specific demographic, like reader age or location.
Romance Refined has you covered for all of the above!
I'll do my best to match you with a beta reader based on their race and/or ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, trauma experiences, mental and physical health hardships, parenting and pregnancy experiences, age, religion, places they've lived, languages spoken, unique life experiences, job and education history, skills and hobbies...anything, really.
Click below for the full list of sensitivity and accuracy topics covered by the Romance Refined team.
Or maybe you want an accuracy reader to check whether you authentically depicted things like your story's location or something your characters knows how to do.
And sometimes you just want to test story reception from a specific demographic, like reader age or location.
Romance Refined has you covered for all of the above!
I'll do my best to match you with a beta reader based on their race and/or ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, trauma experiences, mental and physical health hardships, parenting and pregnancy experiences, age, religion, places they've lived, languages spoken, unique life experiences, job and education history, skills and hobbies...anything, really.
Click below for the full list of sensitivity and accuracy topics covered by the Romance Refined team.
| romance_refined_beta_reader_sensitivity_and_accuracy.pdf |
How much will a beta read cost?
Turnaround times* and rates per reader:
*Manuscripts longer than 105,000 words will be quoted turnaround times on a case-by-case basis.
- standard 3-week turnaround: $1.00 per 1,000 words (that's only $75 for 75,000 words!)
- rush 2-week turnaround: $1.25 per 1,000 words
- super-rush 1-week turnaround: $1.50 per 1,000 words
- $40 minimum regardless of word count or turnaround time
*Manuscripts longer than 105,000 words will be quoted turnaround times on a case-by-case basis.
When to get a beta read?
Whether you use free beta readers or pay for beta readers, beta reading is not meant to replace professional editing. View it is a helpful step to add to your publishing process only after you understand the types of editing that exist. If hiring a beta reader means you won't be able to afford an editor, save your money for an editor.
If you feel uncertain about your completed story, start with a beta read before hiring an editor for a developmental or substantive edit. The more issues you iron out yourself, the faster (which means cheaper) your editor can do their job, and they'll be able to drill deeper into the remaining issues.
Once you're confident in your story content (plot, characters, pacing, etc.), hopefully because you've made revisions based on an editor's developmental or substantive edit, a beta read is ideal right before your copyedit. This gives you final insight into anything you might want to change about the story execution before an editor does the nitty-gritty work of polishing your language, grammar, and punctuation.
I don't recommend beta reading after copyediting or proofreading. Odds are too high that changes you make based on feedback might introduce errors and inconsistencies that will then never get addressed by an editor before the book is released. The last thing you want are negative reviews pointing out a mistake due to this after all your hard work and financial investment!
Please note that the Romance Refined beta reader team only accepts completed manuscripts.
If you feel uncertain about your completed story, start with a beta read before hiring an editor for a developmental or substantive edit. The more issues you iron out yourself, the faster (which means cheaper) your editor can do their job, and they'll be able to drill deeper into the remaining issues.
Once you're confident in your story content (plot, characters, pacing, etc.), hopefully because you've made revisions based on an editor's developmental or substantive edit, a beta read is ideal right before your copyedit. This gives you final insight into anything you might want to change about the story execution before an editor does the nitty-gritty work of polishing your language, grammar, and punctuation.
I don't recommend beta reading after copyediting or proofreading. Odds are too high that changes you make based on feedback might introduce errors and inconsistencies that will then never get addressed by an editor before the book is released. The last thing you want are negative reviews pointing out a mistake due to this after all your hard work and financial investment!
Please note that the Romance Refined beta reader team only accepts completed manuscripts.