Send an EPUB to anyone who will read on a phone or e-reader, and a DOCX to anyone who will comment as they go. Ask specific questions rather than "what did you think", and allow considerably longer than the reading time alone, because a volunteer is fitting your book around a job.
Beta reading is reader response, not editing. That distinction is the one that decides everything else about how you set it up.
Beta Reading Is Not Editing, and Bodies Say So
The Editorial Freelancers Association defines beta reading as a service in its own right, filed under Reading rather than Editing:
"Beta readers review manuscripts and offer authors feedback and insight, identifying errors, plot problems, inconsistencies, or unclear sections in the work. They serve as a test audience, representing the target readership, and can help identify issues like overused tropes or missing elements."
Editors Canada goes further and places it deliberately outside its professional standards, listing beta reading among "other types of editing not described in these Standards", alongside triage editing and peer review. IPEd's editing standards do not mention beta reading at all.
Those three positions sound contradictory and are not. They all say the same thing: a beta reader is a test audience, not a professional applying a craft standard. Expect the reaction of a reader, not the analysis of an editor, and do not send a manuscript so rough that you are really asking for a free structural edit.
Which Format to Send
Match the format to what the reader will do with it, not to what is convenient for you.
EPUB, for readers who will read. This is the right default for most beta readers, because it reflows to any screen and reads properly on a phone, which is where a lot of reading actually happens. The Library of Congress lists EPUB 3 as a preferred format for digital textual works, notes that "EPUB files have good support for accessibility features", and documents an ecosystem of assistive reading applications built around it, including tools aimed at low vision, blindness and dyslexia.
A Kindle is not an obstacle. Amazon's Send to Kindle accepts PDF, DOC, DOCX, TXT, RTF, HTM, HTML, PNG, GIF, JPG, JPEG, BMP and EPUB, so a reader can put your EPUB or DOCX straight on the device.
DOCX, for readers who will comment. If you want margin notes at the exact point of confusion, send a Word file and ask for comments rather than tracked changes. Tracked changes invite line editing, which is not what a beta reader is for, and you will spend more time rejecting commas than reading the feedback that matters.
Not PDF, usually. It cannot reflow, so a reader on a phone is pinching and scrolling through pages laid out for a printed book. The exception is a reader who specifically wants to see the finished layout.
Not a link to a live document, unless you want every reader to see every other reader's comments. That biases the second reader onwards, which destroys the point of a test audience.
Deckle's export options and the reasoning behind each are covered in EPUB vs PDF vs DOCX for publishing.
How Long to Allow
There is one authoritative pace figure, and it is worth knowing precisely what it measures.
The EFA's 2026 Editorial Rate Chart, built from a survey of over 1,100 members covering their 2025 work, puts paid beta reading at 16 to 40 standard pages per hour, where a standard page is 250 words. For a 90,000 word manuscript, that is 360 pages, so roughly 9 to 22 hours of reading for a professional doing it as work.
Now apply that honestly to a volunteer. Someone reading your book in evenings and weekends around a job is not going to compress 9 to 22 hours into a fortnight simply because you asked nicely. Six weeks is a reasonable ask. Four is tight. Two is a favour you should not expect.
No authoritative body publishes a recommended number of beta readers, and none publishes a volunteer turnaround norm. Any specific figure you have read for either, five readers, ten readers, three weeks, comes from someone's blog rather than from a professional body. Treat those as opinion, including mine: my own view is that three or four readers who actually finish beats ten who mean to.
The same chart makes the distinction between beta reading and professional feedback visible in money. Beta reading has a median of $150 per project. A manuscript assessment has a median of $600. That gap is roughly the gap between reader response and professional analysis.
Ask Specific Questions
No editorial body publishes guidance on structuring beta reader questions, so what follows is craft advice rather than a sourced standard.
"What did you think" produces "I really enjoyed it", which tells you nothing you can act on. Questions that produce usable answers tend to be about the reader's experience rather than their judgement:
- Where did you stop reading, and had you meant to stop there?
- Was there anywhere you were confused about who was speaking, or where a scene was?
- Which character did you most want to skip?
- Did you guess the ending, and if so, when?
- Was there anything you did not believe?
Send the questions after they read, not with the manuscript, unless you want them reading for your questions instead of reading the book.
One more thing worth doing: ask where they stopped each session. A reader who consistently puts the book down at the same chapter is telling you something they will never articulate directly.
Protecting the Work
Both national copyright offices state the same basic position, which is more reassuring than most authors expect.
The US Copyright Office states that "Copyright exists automatically in an original work of authorship once it is fixed", that registering "is not mandatory", but that for US works "registration (or refusal) is necessary to enforce the exclusive rights of copyright through litigation", and that timely registration also affects the damages available.
The UK Intellectual Property Office states that "You get copyright protection automatically. You do not have to apply or pay a fee. There is not a register of copyright works in the UK", and that marking a work with the copyright symbol "does not affect the level of protection you have".
Neither office addresses whether circulating a manuscript privately to beta readers counts as publication, so this page does not either. If that specific question matters to your situation, it is one for the office itself or a lawyer, not for a formatting guide.
What Deckle Does
Export the format you need from Compile: EPUB for readers, DOCX with the Word variant for commenters. Both come from the same manuscript, so there is no separate file to maintain.
Two features fit this stage particularly well. Comments let you work through returned feedback inside the manuscript rather than in a pile of emails, which is covered in getting feedback from beta readers and editors. And taking a snapshot before you start acting on feedback gives you a fixed point to return to, which matters more than it sounds when four readers disagree about the same chapter and you have already rewritten it twice.
If you are sending to a professional rather than a reader, the format question is different and covered in DOCX vs RTF for sending to an editor.
Common Mistakes
- Sending a PDF to phone readers. It cannot reflow, and most of them will not finish.
- Asking for tracked changes. You get line edits from someone who is not a line editor.
- Using one shared live document. Every reader after the first is reading the others' opinions too.
- Sending the questions up front. They read for your questions instead of reading the book.
- Expecting a two week turnaround. Professionals need 9 to 22 hours for a 90,000 word book. Volunteers need calendar time.
- Sending a draft you know is broken. That is a request for a free structural edit, and it is not what a beta reader signed up for.
- Acting on one reader's note. One reader is a data point. Three readers flagging the same chapter is a finding.
FAQ
Q: How many beta readers should I have? A: No professional body publishes a number. Any figure you see, including anyone's recommendation, is opinion.
Q: EPUB or DOCX? A: EPUB if they will read it, DOCX if they will comment in it. Kindles accept both.
Q: Should I pay beta readers? A: You can. The EFA lists it as a paid service with a median of $150 per project. Volunteers are the norm for most authors.
Q: When in the process should beta reading happen? A: After your own revision, before a paid edit. Sending a first draft wastes the reader.
Q: Do I need to register copyright before sending it out? A: Both the US and UK offices state protection is automatic on creation. Registration in the US affects enforcement and damages, not existence.