The term “beta reader” gets thrown around a lot in writerly circles, but I’ve discovered an awful lot of writers don’t really understand what they do.

The term “beta” reader seems to come from the gaming industry. Early game developers would ask certain customers to test games before they went on the market. These were not the “alpha” users who worked on actually developing the game, but “betas” who tested the game when it was about to go into the marketplace. They helped find glitches and could give marketers an idea of their target audience.

Beta readers are like those beta game users — they are sample “customers” who give opinions on a new product. They generally read a book that has already been edited by the author, but is not yet ready to go to the publisher or professional editor for a final polish.

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