A private space for better stories

Give your story a reading room.

Invite beta readers into your manuscript. Let them read at their own pace, leave honest notes in context, and talk with one another when they’re ready.

Download the plugin See how it works

Built for WordPress. Fits into a page made with Elementor.

Extal Beta Reader manuscript view with a reader notes panel beside the story

Their reactions stay with the story, not in a separate inbox.

Private invitationsGive access to the readers you choose.

Notes in contextCapture reactions while the page is fresh.

Shared conversationMake reading a community experience.

Useful exportsTake your feedback with you.

The reading experience

Everything starts with the book.

A calm, focused home for your draft and the people helping you improve it.

Reading room home page with a quick guide and a private reading copy — The reading room welcomes readers and shows their assigned copy.

01 / Welcome readers

An inviting first page, not a wall of instructions.

Readers enter through their own account, see your reading guide, and open the copy you have assigned to them. Their position is saved so they can pick up where they left off.

Invite readers with a private link.
Offer a clear, built-in guide to beta reading.
Let readers adjust text size, spacing, and dark mode.

Manuscript page with shared comments and a reply conversation alongside the text — Comments and conversations stay beside the manuscript.

02 / Capture the moment

Good feedback happens while they’re reading.

A reader can highlight a passage or leave a chapter note without losing their place. A quick reaction can say “I’m hooked” or “I’m lost” when that says enough.

Keep a note for the author or share it with fellow readers.
Filter to your own comments or see shared reactions.
Reply to a shared note right where it was made.

Reference shelf showing fantasy maps beside the reading copy — Maps, characters, and glossary entries in the reference shelf.

03 / Keep the world close

The little details have a place, too.

Add maps, character notes, glossary entries, and other references to a shelf readers can open from the book. Choose which items are shared and which appear only after a reader finishes.

See the setup steps

A conversation beyond the margins

Readers can talk together.

The full-page forum gives your group a familiar place to start topics and reply. General Discussion is for spoiler-free conversation. A separate book discussion opens after a reader marks the book finished.

General DiscussionFull-book discussion

Readers can delete their own posts. You can moderate or remove any post.

Reader Forum topic with replies and a reply form — A traditional forum page that belongs to the reading room.

Simple to set up

From draft to feedback in three steps.

Install & add your draft

Upload the plugin in WordPress. Add a manuscript as HTML or plain text, then give the reading copy a round name.

Invite your readers

Put the reading-room shortcode in an Elementor Shortcode widget. Create a private invitation link for each copy.

Read the response

Review notes in your dashboard, answer privately or in shared threads, and download an easy-to-read report or CSV.

Privacy is a choice readers can see.

Notes start as author-only. Readers choose when to share a note with the group. The full-book discussion stays behind the finished-reading gate.

Get the plugin

The details

A few good questions.

Do readers need a WordPress account?

Yes. You create a private invitation link, and a new reader can create their own account from the reading-room page. Existing accounts can sign in and accept the invitation.

Can readers see one another’s notes?

Only notes their writers choose to share. Notes start as author-only, and readers can filter the comments they view.

Can I use this with Elementor?

Yes. Add the

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shortcode using Elementor’s Shortcode widget. The plugin creates its own separate forum page.

How do I get the feedback out?

Download a readable HTML report or a spreadsheet-ready CSV from the WordPress Beta Reader dashboard. There is no separate app connection required.

Does it replace Google Docs?

It offers a shared reading experience with private and shared comments, discussion, and exports. It is built around reading a fixed draft rather than editing the manuscript together.

Ready for your readers?

Give the next draft a place to live.

Download the plugin ZIP and install it in WordPress under Plugins → Add New Plugin → Upload Plugin. Then place this shortcode in an Elementor Shortcode widget on your reading-room page.

Download Extal Beta Reader 0.7.1 [extal_beta_reader]