How to Use the Beta Reader
What the Beta Reader does
The Beta Reader reads your chapter the way a real reader would — not as an editor. It does not suggest rewrites or fix grammar. It reports what it felt, where engagement rose or fell, what confused it, what landed, and what missed. The feedback comes from inside the reading experience, not from outside the manuscript.
Chapter text is submitted for each session and never stored. Only the results are saved to your account.
Before you submit
The more context you give the reader, the more grounded the feedback will be. A Story Bible with your characters, locations, and tone notes allows the reader to distinguish intentional choices from gaps. Download the story bible template to get started.
Settings
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Form | Tells the reader what kind of work this is — Novel, Short Story, Screenplay, or Poetry. The reader applies form-appropriate expectations. A short story is not evaluated like a novel chapter. |
| Genre | Up to three genres in priority order. Sets the reader's baseline expectations for pacing, tone, and convention. A thriller reader expects different things than a literary fiction reader. Genre mismatch in submissions is flagged. |
| Reader Profile | Who is reading. General Reader is the default — an engaged adult reader without specialist knowledge. Genre Savvy knows the tropes and will flag clichés more sharply. New to Genre will flag assumed knowledge that needs establishing. |
| Feedback Tone | Balanced gives equal precision to strengths and problems. Encouraging frames concerns more gently — good for early drafts. Direct strips the softening — same content, shorter delivery. Tone changes how feedback is delivered, not what is observed. |
| POV | The point of view the chapter is written in. When set, the reader watches for POV consistency — head-hopping in Third Limited, knowledge limits in First Person, voice distinctiveness in Multiple POV. |
| Add-ons | Optional analyses run alongside the core feedback. Pacing maps your scene energy curve. Dialogue measures balance and voice. Reading Level computes readability scores. Continuity checks internal consistency. Sensitivity flags content that may affect readers. |
Understanding your results
AI Feedback tab
The core report. Covers engagement, the opening and closing, character, emotional impact, confusion points, standout moments, and a verdict. The reader logs emotional responses with symbols: 💚 for moments that landed, 💛 for moments that almost worked, ❌ for moments that missed their intended effect.
Metrics tab
Readability scores computed directly from your text. No AI involved — pure math.
| Metric | What it means | Target range |
|---|---|---|
| Flesch Reading Ease | How easy the prose is to read. Higher is easier. Based on sentence length and syllables per word. | 60–80 for most fiction. Below 50 is dense. Above 90 is very simple. |
| FK Grade Level | US school grade equivalent for reading level. 7th–9th grade covers most commercial fiction. | Varies by genre. Literary fiction tends higher; thrillers tend lower. |
| Gunning Fog Index | Complexity score based on long words. Higher means denser prose. | 8–10 is the sweet spot for most readers. |
| Avg. Sentence Length | Words per sentence. Very high numbers can slow readers down. Very low numbers create a staccato effect. | 12–18 for most prose. Action scenes often run shorter. |
| Dialogue Ratio | Percentage of text that is dialogue or quoted speech. Note: this includes quoted thoughts and memory flashbacks. | Varies widely by genre and form. High ratios in literary short fiction are common. |
Markdown Report tab
The full report in plain Markdown — ready to copy into your notes, paste into a document, or save for later reference.
Running the same chapter again
Each chapter can be submitted up to two times during the beta period. Use a second run to test whether a revision addressed the issues raised — or to try different settings (a more direct tone, a different reader profile) to see how the feedback changes.
Privacy
Your chapter text is processed and immediately discarded. It is never stored on our servers. Only the results — the feedback text and readability scores — are saved to your account.