Can't choose between two drafts? Let your readers decide

Every writer has been stuck here: you have two ways a scene could go. Two opening chapters. Two endings. You think the second is stronger — but you wrote both, so you’re the last person who can judge them fairly. What you really want is to put each one in front of readers and ask, which one landed?

ReaderPulse now makes that easy. With version-specific share links, you can send readers a link to one exact draft — so you can run two versions side by side and compare the reactions they pull.

How it works

Whenever you upload a new draft of a manuscript, it becomes a new version. Each published version now has its own shareable link of the form:

readerpulse.io/read/your-link/1 readerpulse.io/read/your-link/2

Open the reading view for a manuscript that has two or more published versions and you’ll see a version picker. Next to it is a copy-link button — pick the version you want, click it, and the link to that exact draft is on your clipboard, ready to send.

Running a head-to-head comparison

Here’s the workflow that makes this powerful:

Upload both drafts you want to test. Each one becomes its own version — say, Version 1 and Version 2.
Copy the version-specific link for each draft using the copy button beside the version picker.
Split your readers into two groups and send each group a different version — or send the same readers both links and ask them which they preferred and why.
Watch the reactions and feedback come in, then compare the two versions directly.

Because each link opens one specific draft, readers only ever see the version you sent them. There’s no version switcher on their end and no way to stumble into the other draft — so their reaction is to that version alone, uninfluenced by the alternative.

Why compare versions this way?

Asking “is this draft good?” gets you polite, vague answers. Asking “did this chapter make you cry more than that one?” gets you a real signal. When two versions compete for the same readers, the differences that actually matter rise to the surface:

Which opening hooks readers? Compare where each version’s reactions cluster — and where readers drift or get bored.
Did the rewrite land the emotional beat? See whether the “cried” and “loved” reactions moved to the moments you intended.
Which ending satisfies? Read the story-level feedback and ratings for each version next to each other.

Once the feedback is in, your analytics break it down per version, so you can compare reactions, ratings, and written notes draft against draft — and commit to the version your readers actually responded to.

Tidy up the drafts that didn’t stick

Testing lots of versions means accumulating a few that never drew any feedback. You can now bulk-delete versions that have no reactions or notes in one step — clearing out the dead-end drafts while every version that readers actually responded to stays safely put.

Try it on your next revision

Got two drafts you can’t choose between? Upload them both, grab a link for each, and let your readers settle it. Create a free account to get started, or open a manuscript you’ve already shared and look for the version picker in the reading view.