When you are in the editing process and have had several rounds, you may feel its time to send it off to a publisher. Stop. Have you had a second or third pair of eyes look it over? Using a fresh pair of eyes who have never seen your story before can be beneficial to you and your story.
Beta Readers are writers or nonwriters who read your story with the intent of editing or critique your piece. Do not take this personal, no matter the outcome. Beta Readers are not there to say anything about you. They are merely there for help with your writing, your story. If you don't agree with their suggestions, you don't have to change anything. This is practice though because when you get your story published, you will go through this process with their editor with more details and rounds. And of course, you still have the final say on those changes. I will discuss this later though lol.
If you can choose someone, go with someone you can trust. This is your story, your baby; you should trust that the person reading and critiquing your story is someone you trust in their word to be honest. It doesn't have to be another writer but they should have an understanding in the language. They should know the difference between nouns and pronouns kind of language. Some writers ask to trade stories, you edit theirs while they edit yours and that's fine. It will give you practice.
If that's the case, don't try to change the story itself. Rather work on sentence structure and the elements that make up the story. Tighten how the story is told. If you don't like the story itself, that's fine but be honest about it. Work on the writing itself.
Amber Rigby Grosjean
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