Getting Feedback

Overview

A beta read session is where you choose a beta reader persona and let them analyze your manuscript. The reader walks you through their feedback in a guided, immersive experience — highlighting passages in your text and explaining their thoughts one annotation at a time.

Running a beta read requires a Writer+ plan or higher.

Starting a Session

To start a beta read session:

1. Open the Tools panel (right sidebar) in the writer interface.
2. Click the Beta Readers tool.
3. A full-screen experience opens with the Choose Your Reader screen.
4. Select one or more readers and click Begin Analysis.

Make sure you have at least 100 words in your draft before starting. The more text you provide, the more detailed the feedback.

Choosing Your Reader

The selection screen shows all available readers — the 5 built-in personas (The Architect, The Empath, The Hawk, The Cartographer, and The Page Turner) plus any readers you've added from the marketplace. Each reader is displayed with their portrait, name, description, and focus areas.

Select the readers you want, then click Begin Analysis. You can run up to 1 reader per session on Basic, 2 on Writer, and 5 on Professional — running several gives you multiple perspectives in one pass, while a single reader keeps the feedback tightly focused.

The Analysis

After you click Begin Analysis, the reader starts analyzing your manuscript. You'll see a cinematic loading screen with the reader's portrait as they work through your text. Analysis typically takes 15–30 seconds depending on text length and the AI model.

If something goes wrong, you'll see an error with options to retry or go back and choose a different reader.

The Walkthrough

Once analysis completes, you enter the walkthrough — the core of the beta reading experience. It's a two-panel layout:

• Left panel — your full manuscript with all annotated passages highlighted. The currently active passage is prominently highlighted and auto-scrolls into view.
• Right panel — the reader's space. Their portrait and name appear at the top, with the current annotation below — as if the reader is sitting with you, pointing at your text and talking through their notes.

The walkthrough starts with an overview — the reader's overall impression of your manuscript, their top strength and top weakness picks. This sets the stage before diving into individual annotations.

Navigating Annotations

Move through annotations using any of these methods:

• Next/Previous buttons at the bottom of the screen.
• Arrow keys (left/right or up/down) on your keyboard.
• Click a highlighted passage in the manuscript to jump directly to that annotation.

Each annotation includes a severity level (Strength, Note, or Concern), the quoted passage, the reader's commentary, and optionally a suggestion for improvement.

The Summary

At any point during the walkthrough, click the Summary button in the header to see all annotations at a glance, grouped by severity. The summary is also the last stop in the walkthrough sequence.

Click any annotation in the summary to jump back to it in the walkthrough view.

Understanding the Feedback

Each annotation from the reader includes:

• Severity — Strength (something that works well), Note (something to consider), or Concern (something that may need attention).
• Passage — the specific text in your manuscript being discussed, highlighted in both the annotation card and the manuscript panel.
• Comment — the reader's detailed thoughts on the passage.
• Suggestion (optional) — a concrete idea for improvement.

Saved Results

Beta read results are saved automatically per draft. When you close the walkthrough and reopen it later, your previous results are loaded instantly without re-running the analysis. This means you can:

• Review feedback across multiple sessions.
• Close the walkthrough to make edits, then reopen to continue reviewing.
• Click Re-analyze at any time to run a fresh session (this replaces the saved results).

Token Cost

Token cost for a beta read session depends on:

• Text length — longer texts require more input tokens.
• AI model — premium models cost more per token but tend to produce more nuanced feedback.

All costs come from your Genesis Token balance. Each run covers a single chapter (capped at 8,000 words), so costs stay predictable — though running several readers in one session multiplies the cost by the number of readers.

Tips for Better Feedback

• Submit complete scenes. A full scene with a beginning, middle, and end gives readers enough material to assess pacing, structure, and emotional arc.
• Match the reader to your need. The Architect for structural issues, The Empath for emotional depth. Don't use a structure reader when you need prose feedback — add a prose-focused reader from the marketplace instead.
• Run sessions at different stages. Get structural feedback on early drafts, then emotional or prose-level feedback on later revisions.
• Re-run after revisions. Made changes based on feedback? Run another session to see if the fixes landed.
• Try community readers. The marketplace has specialized readers for specific genres and writing goals that may give more targeted feedback than the built-in personas.