We’ve written about what we think should be in your beta reading questionnaire, but every author and every project is different. You’re going to have needs that can’t be covered in a basic blog post. But personally, I'm not a believer there are no wrong questions. There are only so many you can ask! Even with your unique needs, there are some things you should absolutely avoid. They're just plain unproductive. Here are a few:

Questions with Answers You Don’t Want to Hear

There are many different reasons why authors want a beta read, and it’s okay if yours is different from what most people use the medium of feedback for. If what you’re needing is a cheerleader to get your writing back on track, it’s okay to ask for it! Don’t ask for a critique and instead focus on questions about favorite moments, things that resonated with them, places they couldn’t stop reading. You can learn a lot from your best moments without opening up yourself to ridicule.

Perhaps this is a particularly sensitive example, but avoiding answers that will stifle your progress can be implemented at every stage of writing and is an act of self-care. Think of it as a boundary for your writing health. Sure, you probably want to have a no-holds-barred beta reader at some point before releasing your story, but it doesn’t have to be this time.

Questions that Point Directly at a Particular Passage

A beta read experience is meant to give feedback by mimicking the experience your future readers will have with the story. By giving your readers a questionnaire that asks about a particular passage or movement, you’re tainting that experience as it calls for them to look at the trees over the forest of the entire story. It persuades them to have an opinion on a section where it may be unnecessary and actually give you biased feedback accidentally.

You’re more likely to get the information you need by asking larger questions about your concerns as they pertain to the entire text and see if the section you’re concerned about comes up. For example, if you’re worried about a particular section having slow pacing, ask your reader if there were any times they were bored, frustrated, or considered walking away from the story and when was it the case. If your section you were concerned about comes up, then you know how to proceed. If it doesn’t, then you can rest assured it’s working for the reader.

Overly General Questions

Just as dangerous as overly specific questions can be especially general questions or no questions at all. Having a beta reading questionnaire gives your readers direction in how to give you useful feedback. While a beta read isn’t meant to be as in depth as an editorial analysis, you still want to walk away with some more specifics than the few sentences people will knock together without direction. So, don’t ask closed-ended questions that can be answered with yes or no answers, but don’t ask wide-as-the-sky questions like ‘What did you think of the story?’ or ‘How did you feel about the main character?’ It’s not going to give you applicable feedback.

Questions You Already Know the Answer to

If there’s something that’s been nagging you about your story, take some initiative and go try it out for yourself. Don’t ask your beta reader to kick you in the pants to make it happen. Worst case scenario, you write the wrong thing, look back and see it wasn’t the right choice, and try something new. You’ll get a lot more out of a beta read by asking questions you need guidance on before taking a leap, and it’s more respectful of their time!

You might think this one is common knowledge, but I like to make it explicit because it comes up. At least three or four times a year, I get a response from an author saying they knew they’ve been dragging their feet on something and wasted one of their precious questions and rounds of reading on it.

Questions that Ask for Direct Editorial Direction

The great thing about a beta reading is that it gives you some insight into what a reader coming across your work for the first time will experience. We talked about how pointing to a particular passage can disrupt that feedback, but another and oftentimes more dangerous question can be to ask for literal editorial direction like “I’m thinking about doing <insert idea>. Should I do that or <insert other idea>?” Beta readers typically don’t have the experience with the literary industry necessary to give you reliable feedback, meaning they will have to either take a stab in the dark or give you an entirely self-biased opinion.

Instead of asking for this feedback, lean into questions that highlight your considerations in a more general way. Or reach out to a developmental editor or book coach. They have the resources necessary to help remove their opinions from the equation and help build a story toward what industry professionals are seeking.