December 13, 2023

Hey, folks!

Last month, I talked about the importance of beta readers and how they can help you. But something I’ve discovered is that they can help you even more when you give them guidance as to how to help. This includes asking them questions.

This can be in the form of a questionnaire, done over a phone call, however you feel it makes sense. But in any case, asking questions can help a beta reader get to their thoughts and express them in a way that is more helpful to you. Otherwise, you may get a generic “I liked it/didn’t like it,” and that won’t go very far.

So, what can you ask them when it comes to poetry and picture books? Here are some ideas, totalling ten for either type of project:

Note from December 2025: I realize I haven’t made one for novels yet – one will come soon!

For all books:

• At what point did you get drawn in?
• What parts did you find lagged or bogged it down?
• Did everything progress in a logical way?
• Were there moments or passages that were confusing?

For poetry:

• What was your favourite poem? Why?

• What was your least favourite poem? Why?

• Describe the theme(s) in ten words or less.

• Did you notice any trigger/content warnings other than the ones I originally listed?

• Was the language clear, and was it appropriate for the target audience?

• How did the collection/poem make you feel emotionally? Were there emotions you wish you’d felt more strongly? (For instance, was there a poem that you know was meant to make you feel sad, but fell short of that?)

For picture books*:

• What was your favourite part? Why?
• What was your least favourite part? Why?
• What do you think of the main character, and do you feel that they’re the one who solved the problem(s)?
• Did the dialogue feel natural?
• Was the language appropriate for the target age group, or were there too many words that would be confusing to a child? (Some new/difficult words can be explained through images and context, but you don’t want there to be too many scattered throughout!)
• Did the story hold your/your child’s attention?

*Note that for picture books (and other content for kids), your beta readers should include children. Ask them, or have their adult ask them, these questions. Yes, you want to keep adults entertained so they’re happy to read your book to their kids every night for the foreseeable future, but you also want the kids to ask for your book every night!

These are non-exhaustive lists, and are very general. There may be some other questions you want to add, particularly ones that are specific to your project. For instance, you may ask whether the winter imagery in your poems was varied enough, or if your main character’s pet should be a bird instead of a dog. It’s good to get general feedback like what the questions above prompt, so you know if the writing is doing its job, but beta readers are a great source to discover whether the parts you’re worried about work or not.

You may have noticed that I specifically mentioned beta readers and not alpha readers. You can ask these same questions to alpha readers, but remember, they’re there to help you with really big picture stuff, so many of these questions may be better suited to later in the process.

Feel free to copy these questions into your own documents for your/your beta readers’ reference! And if you would like some more ideas, let me know. I’d be happy to add to this list.

What do you ask your beta readers?