Ready to Hire a Sensitivity Reader?

Things to Keep in Mind Before Hiring a Sensitivity Reader

In our previous article, I talked about the importance of sensitivity readers, and how they can help fine-tune your manuscripts. As a writer considering hiring one, you’re probably wondering what to look out for, what requirements to seek. I hope this article helps you in figuring that out.

Why Do I Need A Sensitivity Reader?

This is the first question any writer would ask. Writers generally have creative license, especially in fiction. But, even in fiction, writers realise that making their stories and characters relatable is key to evoking emotions, imagery, and thoughts. Readers should be able to carry themselves into scenes and feel every touch, movement, word, unsaid words, and this is usually done by making situations feel real. Yes, even in fiction. Also, it is somewhat distracting when readers have to question the realities of situations in your manuscript. Just like that, all the emotions and action you were trying to arouse is cut off by the distractions of simulated realities. Yes, again—even in fiction.

It is why writers ought to realise that no amount of research will beat the experience of someone who has been in a certain situation, and using that perspective to add even more depth to characters and story lines. Especially situations that have to do with experiences they do not fully comprehend, like being Queer, Muslim, a woman, differently-abled, having a terminal illness, doing an intricate job, artistes, special abilities, of a marginalised ethnic group, and the list goes. This is why I wrote an article about why authors should use sensitivity readers. Read the Benefits of Hiring a Sensitivity Reader.

Do They Have the Experience you Seek?

Of course, this one goes without saying. Your sensitivity reader can’t play guesswork or use their imagination for what you need from them as a sensitivity reader. They have to have the relevant experience because, without that, you might as well scrap the need for them, and do it all on your own.

Would you go to a pilot to give you insight on how to write about a nurse? Or would you go to a Turkish Muslim man to tell you about the nuances of being a black curvy Muslim woman? Well, I’d imagine that you’d probably fail your character by having people who don’t experience what your characters have been through to give an opinion on portrayals of these characters. Even worse, the readers would probably sense the inaccuracies and misrepresentation or, in this case, forced representations (because that’s what happens when you give the voice of one experience to another).

Again, humans are not a monolith. Neither are black people, Asians or people who are queer or any group of persons. Which why I emphasise that if you’re going to use a sensitivity reader, you ought to go the extra mile of finding readers who not only have lived experiences of your characters but a nuanced one. Like I said before, the experiences of an Asian Muslim woman would have differences from that of a white Muslim woman or a black Muslim Woman. Understanding that the differences in all these nuanced experiences will influence how the sensitivity reader will gauge portrayals.

I know that you cannot always find the exact complexities of your character in people. Scratch that; it’s almost always an impossibility. But the closer you are to considering those complexities and their similarities between your sensitivity reader and your characters, the sharper the characters would be. The more embedded in reality they would feel. The more your readers are likely to feel the characters jump out of the page because of how real these characters feel to them.

Do They Read the Genre You’re Writing

So even if you find a sensitivity reader with the perfect tones of your characters, it is likely that the value they’d add to your book would lack the biased views someone who reads that genre would give it. Yes, in this instance, you absolutely need the bias. This in fact, doesn’t only apply to your sensitivity reader but to everyone involved in the process of writing and/or publishing the manuscript. Someone who has experience reading or writing your genre is a far better match. This is because whatever value your sensitivity reader adds to your manuscript, it ought to be in the context of your genre.

Take, for example, if I were writing a fantasy story with a black female lead. Yes, I’d want a black person to beta read it. But someone with little experience would judge the creative license and exaggerations of fantasy and therefore judge portrayals without considering how fantasy books can allow for a lot of inaccuracies of the contemporary world. You wouldn’t want that, would you? It goes without saying. Get someone who relates to your character, but also someone who enjoys and understands the genre you’re writing.

Do you Need Just One Sensitivity Reader?

Just like how authors contemplate getting multiple beta readers, you’ll probably wonder if you’d need more than one sensitivity reader. Ideally, having more than one beta reader through every round of re-write allows the writer to get multi-dimensional and multiple perspectives of the reader. In that same likelihood, after all that talk about how a group of people are not a homogenised group, getting more than one sensitivity reader might just give you that multi-dimensional and diverse view on an experience that might just give your characters richer wholesomeness because of how complex adding varied experience and traits to that character is. Nevertheless, one sensitivity reader might just do. Not only if you’re on a budget but considering that no matter how many sensitivity readers you use, there will always be persons from the group you’re trying to represent properly who won’t agree with certain portrayals. So, even one is good enough.

Are You Prepared for Indemnity Your Sensitivity Reader Won’t Give You?

I previously mentioned that using multiple sensitivity readers will not indemnify you from criticsms of the people from the group you’re trying to represent, and this is something a writer must keep in mind. You as a writer have to accept that no experience of two people is ever going to be the same, even if they go through the same situation. It is why people from the same group would always have something to say. So be prepared to accept that even with a sensitivity reader, you will still be open to harsh criticism as all writers are, and having used a sensitivity reader or multiple readers will not release you from that reality.

The reason why I buttress this point is because writers might humanly think it will. Because at least they would have the defence of having used a sensitivity reader when the criticism starts. And knowing that it won’t indemnify you might make you as a writer feels like – “What’s the point if I’m going to be criticised for representing a group whose experience I can’t personalize?” Well, remember that it’s something all artists, creators and so on, face. It shouldn’t discourage you from getting a sensitivity reader.

I sure hope I have provided insights on things to consider when choosing a sensitivity readers.

Related: Why Hire a Sensitivity Reader?

About the author:

Evelyn Jegede is an avid reader and writer. She reads and writes fictional romance & fantasy. Evelyn also works with Writerful Books to provide beta and sensitivity reading services to writers. She hopes that by helping authors with beta and sensitivity perspectives, she can provide guidance to creating immersive and well rounded characters to take the readers for a ride.

How Much Does a Sensitivity Reader Cost?

AUD $245, CAD $220, GBP £130, EUR €150, USD $165 per reader up to 120,000 words*.

*For manuscripts in excess of 120,000 words please contact us for a quote.

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* Acceptance of a manuscript electronically or by post does not automatically imply any contractual obligations.