Reader feedback can be a great thing (provided it’s not full of petty griping and fault-finding). Ideally, beta readers will give you constructive criticism that helps you tighten your pacing, fix confusing bits, and catch any other issues that might take readers out of the story experience. They aren’t professional editors, though, and they aren’t meant to be, either (though they can be).
As a result, they’re often not well-equipped to provide big-picture critiques of your work, which is why it’s best to enlist them for more specific questions that focus on the elements of your novel that you think might need improvement. Structured feedback is easier for beta readers, too, since they may not know what to look for or what they should be focusing on without some guidance.
Keep in mind, however, that no reader is free of biases and blind spots. For example, if your beta reader doesn’t like the way you write, they might skew their feedback toward shaping your story into the genre they prefer over helping it become what it needs to be. Or, if they don’t find one of your characters particularly interesting, they might focus on that aspect of the book.
Still, if they can point out that your story’s pacing feels rushed or uneventful and it doesn’t meet their expectations, then it is worth evaluating their feedback objectively in light of your vision of the story’s arcs of change and emotional core. Then it’s up to you to decide what changes, if any, will improve your manuscript.
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