Hey all, I'm about to send out my draft for some alpha readers. In the past, I've always been pretty casual with the format of feedback I want back from my readers. But for this one I'm looking for something a little more structured. I was contemplating a Surveymonkey or a worksheet I make and send out or something along those lines. So my question is, have you found any formats for feedback work better than others? Is there anything you would suggest avoiding?
Have you worked with these alpha/beta readers before? Many beta readers have a preferred way of giving feedback, and since they're doing you a favor, it's a good idea to make sure that you aren't stepping on any toes. For example, I personally prefer inline critiques, leaving comments on the document as I read it, with a page or two of my overall thoughts at the end, and would find a form to fill out constraining. Your alpha readers might not care, but I definitely recommend asking their preferences first. If you want more directed feedback, you can always give a list of things that you would most like feedback on (Ex: I'm really interested in seeing how my characters come across and if they feel consistent...). And, you could have an optional, quick survey at the end. If your Alpha readers all give you the okay on filling out a form, then it depends on what sort of questions you want answered. Multiple choice/ ratings work better with something like survey monkey, but if you just have specific questions with text answers, a word/google doc may be easier to navigate.
Having heard the term before, I kinda worked out intuitively what was meant by beta reader. Excuse my ignorance but what is an alpha reader. Just in case that's what I thought a beta reader was, could I trouble for definition of that too. While I'm on it, my highlight reel will feature mostly the century before this one. For no extra points, if anyone wants to explain what is meant by fanfiction, I'd be grateful.
It's when a fan of a particular series, story, TV show or movie writes stories set in the universe of that program, using existing characters. Often the writers are extremely—shall I say amateur? Not always though, many excellent writers choose to dabble in fanfic now and then. The term is often used in a derogatory sense, as in this isn't really a story, it's just fanfic. Sometimes, but not always. I can't answer the other question.
A beta reader reads a very polished, almost ready for publication draft and provides feedback from a reader's point of view. An alpha reader does the same for a first or early unpolished draft. A lot of people use the term beta reader interchangeably with alpha reader, so sometimes you'll see the term beta reader used when talking about a first draft as well.
