What do you do with critique that is just plain wrong?

That’s exactly how you should beta read. I always do a first pass with no pen, no intention of taking notes or correcting errors. I just read it as though I’m a reader who just picked the book off the shelf. If the story doesn’t work for me reading it that way, for whatever reason, there may be a fundamental problem that is larger than nitpicking errors. I go back on a second read and look at more technical aspects of the writing.

 

Yes. I generally don't want any information from the author before my beta read--just what's on the page. After my first read through I may ask if there are specific areas the author is concerned about--characterization, pacing, or whatever--but that's about it. The words on the page have to stand alone on that first read.

 

I'm sorry but, I'm going to call this out for the dirty lie it is. I can speak from personal experience that @BayView is a wonderful beta!

 

I think that's why it's a good idea to have multiple betas - I had five for Gravity, and they took multiple approaches that helped so much. @BayView and a couple others took the average reader approach, @Shenanigator was my fact-checking guru for all things music biz and Los Angeles, and the last was an experienced author who wants to get into editing on the side, so she basically line edited the whole thing.

Between those various approaches, I can say that Gravity was without a doubt the most polished MS I've ever submitted. It took a village to make my story into what I think is a pretty damn good book.