There comes a time when your book has to leave the nest. You’ve spent weeks, months, possibly years putting together your grand opus for all the world to see. So where do you start? Time to find some Alpha Readers!

Alpha readers are those closest to you. They are the trusted inner-circle of confidants, colleagues, family, and friends you hope will encourage your efforts, and enjoy the story you’ve decided to tell. That’s their number one job, though they tend to get caught up in the secondary task more than anything.

Critique the crap out of your work.

It’s necessary, of course. You want to know where the narrative falters. More than anything, you want the book to shine and trusting your alpha readers is a big step toward that goal.

Trust your Alpha Readers

Authors tend to see their book in only one way. You’ve already questioned the hell out of every choice you’ve made during the outlining and drafting phase. You picked your work apart through a series of grueling self-edits that have left you drained of all enjoyment. (Not dramatic at all, right?)

Now comes the part you’ve been dreading. Reactions from others. Alpha readers will nitpick, they will question things you’ve answered a dozen times (to yourself), and they will always miss the brilliance you’ve hidden within your own flowery language.

It’s easy to defend your choices when criticized. But the truth is, you have locked in on one way of seeing your novel. Doing so, makes it easy to miss another vantage point.

Trust your Alpha Readers to pick up on faults in logic, in character shifts, or convoluted narration. Don’t immediately dismiss the opinions of others. (That can come later for the nitpicking…)

There is a reason certain details trip up readers. Listen to those around you. Hear what they’re saying. Be genuine in your understanding of their criticism, and that you will look into the area later. Fighting only pushes away the help you need to see something new in your manuscript. No one likes to see the flaws in their babies. That doesn’t mean they don’t exist.

How Alpha Readers can help their poor author friend

Alpha Readers need to understand something as well. While authors need the healthy criticism that comes in strengthening a book, they have also lived with their work for quite some time. That level of connection makes it difficult, to say the least, when it comes to hearing every little thing that is wrong with the book.

Throw some compliments at your author. Butter them up a little. Then squash their dreams by pointing out an obvious flaw in the narrative.

Did the story thrill you? Did you laugh, cry, or cringe with the characters? Was there a favorite scene, or line of dialogue?

This is what your author WANTS to hear. Yes, they NEED to hear the other stuff. It’s the only way to build a better story in the end, but no one wants to hear the bad all the time.

Authors, understand and trust your Alpha Readers. They are here to help you, even if they don’t get the brilliance of your story all the time.

Alpha Readers, understand and love your authors. They mean well, but don’t know how to exist in the real world for long stretches of time.