5 Ways to Use Your Time while Your Novel Is in Beta Reading

Make Progress, Be Creative, and Get Ahead of Your Future Self

I’ll be getting feedback from my beta readers on Saturday, which means it’s been two-ish months since I last majorly worked on my novel. (Note the adverb—we’ll come back to that later.)

I’ve been writing, revising, reimagining, and developing To Chase a Prophecy since my teenage years (I’m now twenty-six). Both my novel and I have gone through many iterations. I’m so proud of the version that went to my beta readers, but this has been the longest I’ve ever been away from my book of my own accord. It’s been awkward to have to distance myself from my characters, world, and prose so that, when the notes come back, I’m reviewing it with a clear headspace.

Many writers may feel like me, that a day not at the keyboard is a day wasted. And yes, there were days I felt so guilty for not writing, especially my novel. Guilt that made me question if I really am a writer, if the book is any good, if people will like it, if it has a market, etc. The list goes on in the ways we can spiral when not writing, almost as long as the ways we spiral when we are writing.

While regular breaks during the writing process are important just as much as pushing through the pain, beta reading is when writers have to distance themselves. Rest is required. So to have this time where not writing my book is actually a guilt-free existence has been mind-boggling.

There are times during beta reading where you may feel like you’re at a standstill because you’re not actively adding words. But remember: Your book is not at a standstill. It is being read by actual readers who are seeing how good of a story you have. It’s being worked on, just not by you.

But while the novel’s away, a writer shouldn’t delay. Especially for those authors who are self-publishing, there’s work to be done. You should use this time to make progress, be creative, and get ahead of your future self. Being proactive now will bolster your overall writing career. So if you’re in or about to enter this schedule-clearing timeframe, here are five ways to use your time while your novel is in beta reading.  

1.     Read (a lot!)

We’ve all heard it: To become a good writer, you must be a good reader. And that phrase, it’s more than sage advice. It’s necessary. Dare we say almost Chicago Manual–level of gospel.

When I get in the writing or editing zone, I stop reading. My novel consumes my life. It’s much easier for me to go to the keyboard than the reading chair, but during beta reading, I can remedy that. On this forced break, I read four books, listened to two on audio book, and started a book of collected articles on writing (I also had one DNF about 15 percent in). This is much higher than what I typically get through, averaging about a book every month. I read across multiple genres: romance, mystery, lit fic, and two fantasy. It’s uplifting to see how many different storylines, prose styles, and characters readers can love. And when I’d close these books, it made me wonder if I’ll make someone feel the way these authors made me feel.

As writers, were tough on ourselves. We want our novel to be great, like the novels that inspire us. It’s easy to play the comparison game: “Am I as good as X author?” “Are my characters as fun as Y book’s are?”

Reading shouldn’t make a writer feel small; it should make them want to write. To tell a story just as good as what’s on the shelf, but with their own unique heart in it. Writing is art, and every story, every author, handles their art differently. There is no right or wrong way. There are certainly stronger ways, of course, and that’s what reading helps you see: How well-written stories achieve their desired effects on people. The more you let yourself be absorbed in someone else’s story, the more your skills, vocabulary, and idea of story elements grow. Reading gets you out of your own head and into someone else’s. You can see how they use language and adapt that to your unique style. Even just reading a word I didn’t know before but is the right word for what I’m looking for in my story can be helpful. 

We read to learn, explore, and feel—same as when we write. They are two sides of the same coin, so to not give equal weight to one side makes us off-balanced. A good writer will be a good reader. Personally, I find that if I start off my morning reading, I tend to write stronger. I’ll feel inspired and determined to write something this good, while still maintaining my own style and story wants.

2.     Write/Revise Short Stories for Literary Journals

I have a backlog of short stories I love and have been slowly submitting pieces to literary magazines to build my writing credentials. Even though a submission form isn’t hard, it’s also time, and when I would sit at my computer, my mind went to Work on book, not submit short stories.

While my novel was in beta reading, I submitted to about fifteen lit journals. These will take months to hear back from, so I’m glad I’m doing it now because should any get accepted, I have more publications to add to my author bio when I publish my novel. I also started drafting a nonfiction piece and revised a few others. Giving myself a different creative project during beta reading reminded me that I’m not a writer with one idea, but a writer who has more stories to tell.

Treat writing or revising short stories as little exercises. They challenge creativity, keep your writing muscles moving, and should you get accepted into a literary journal, will bolster your credibility!

3.     Increase Your Online Presence 

As a writer, starting and maintaining this blog has helped me get into a grove of being a professional writer and author. It’s forced me to look at color palettes, target audience, and ways I can become more of a part of the writing community. This is a comfortable launching point for me to start my online presence. I plan to move into social media a few months before launch and have been taking this time to conceptualize content.

Maybe you are comfortable already with social media, which is great! (Please send me your charisma.) Start filming reels/videos or designing posts. The more content you create, the higher follower count you have, the more books you’ll sell when your book is published. Social media content takes a lot of time. There’s a reason whole teams are dedicated to it. Taking this time when you’re not working on your WIP to create promotional content will pay off in the long run. You can create a backlog of content so when you are in the novel trenches, you can keep an online presence and not ruin your editing schedule.

4.     Look for a Cover Designer

If you’re going traditional publishing, you won’t need to do this, but for self-publishers, this is huge. Cover designers can book up six months to a year in advance. For some, this is just to reserve your date to start. The designing may take four to eight weeks before you have your final cover. If you know you want to publish in the next six months, you have the time, and you don’t know who your cover artist will be yet, I’d recommend to get started on this.

This was the first task of production I started after handing off my book to my beta readers. It consumed me for weeks, messaging back and forth with artists/companies and getting quotes. I also created a cover document of likes and dislikes so I could show the potential artists what kind of styles I like and if they think they’d be a good fit for it. (I plan to do an article talking about this experience soon.)

5.     Develop Bonus Content or Next Book in Series

You can always pause work on your novel, but it’s hard to forget about it.

Remember that caveat from the intro, the “majorly worked on” phrase? I’d been feeling for a while that I wanted one more character-development-centered chapter that would add a small detail in book 2, so I started drafting that potential chapter. I haven’t finalized it because I don’t know if I’ll be able to add it, but it feels good to explore and dip into the world in a way that is more of a nice-to-have than a necessity.

I also had a magical week where I didn’t have many personal things to do after work, so I used that time to start book 2. I was able to get through a short prologue, the first chapter, and outlined the second chapter. It’s enough progress for me to say, “Yes, this is in motion. You’re not going to run out of energy and only ever do the first book in this series.”

Since To Chase a Prophecy is a portal fantasy (they exist in our world in book 1), I’ve also had a bit of leeway on worldbuilding. Beta reading allowed me the time to make a worldbuilding template and start filling it out so when I’m drafting book 2, I have all my information in one place.

If you are writing a series, I would recommend with a grain of salt to start plotting book 2 while book 1 is in beta reading. When the feedback comes in, don’t be so rooted to a plan for book 2 that you don’t listen to your beta readers and book 1 is worse off for it. At the same time though, don’t be so malleable with your plan that book 1 (and subsequently book 2) become more of a conglomeration of other people’s thoughts and theories than your own.

Bonus Tip! Reconnect

Reconnect with your friends, your family, your other hobbies. Many writers who take the leap into novel writing will feel that what used to be a hobby has become a part-time job, a lifestyle, more than a hobby. So I got stuff to start more tactile hobbies, like pottery and weaving. I also got back into working out, started making bread, and was able to grow my freelance business more, which has been helpful for my day-to-day life.

Take this free time to not only build your writing career in other aspects but also to live your life away from your desk. Our worlds in the ink are wonderful, but so is our world that we exist in, right now. Today.

Do something for your book. Do something for you.

Write on,

Sterling M.Z.