Should beta-readers have genre experience?
In this comments of How many elements can you focus on during worldbuilding? a conversation arose about the usefulness of non-genre savvy beta-readers.
Another question Are "non-readers" useful beta readers? discusses the topic more broadly in terms of how useful non-readers are as beta-readers.
Should beta-readers have experience in the genre of the work they are reviewing? Are there advantages to having a non-genre-savvy reader review your work?
2 answers
I wouldn't want a non-reader, I definitely want somebody that likes to read and gets immersed in fiction.
But then, I wouldn't really care if they are a genre expert. A good story is a good story, almost anybody that reads novels will be able to tell you the most important thing a reader can tell you: Where they lost immersion, what confused them, what seems clunky, or overdone, or drags, or seems pointless to them.
My approach with readers is to tell them the reason I want them to read is not to get praise. I don't want them to worry about my ego, I want them to show me what to fix before I send it to an agent or publisher and get rejected for it. More than anything I want negative feedback. If the sex scenes are flat, tell me. If the action scenes seem contrived (because of course they always are) I need to fix that. If any character seems to do or say something too stupid, tell me. If they ever find themselves saying, "How convenient!" or "What a lucky coincidence!" in the story, they have spotted a deus ex machina that I need to fix, and make the "coincidence" less obvious, or better justified.
Anybody used to reading stories and willing to read your story is extremely valuable, in this respect. Get all you can. Don't get hurt when they actually have negative feedback. (Also, don't feel obligated to fix something you are certain is right.)
If you can also get somebody that likes reading your particular genre, great, but I wouldn't turn anybody down that's willing to read, and I believe will actually finish the book.
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Both are useful.
Someone who is genre-savvy will already know the rhythms and tropes of the genre, and can advise you about extra things to add, or say "This theme has fallen out of favor in the last two years," or point out "So-and-so did this already, so don't borrow too heavily."
Someone who is not genre-savvy will be able to tell you what needs explaining so that you can capture readers outside your genre.
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