What Type of Editing Do I Need?
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Finding the right editor for the job
Image credit: Christina Morillo from Pexels
All too often, I find that when I tell someone I’m an editor, they assume my job is to check for typos. Or I get the response, “Oh, that’s something I’ve always thought would be fun to do! I find mistakes in almost every magazine or book I read. I’m great at spotting that kind of thing.”
Well, that’s great. But that’s not all there is to it. A quick glance for typos is the type of thing you do before sending off an email (which will of course include a number of typos directly proportionate to how important that email is).
Catching typos is satisfying, but it’s really the very last thing that’s involved in most editing. If you’re looking for an editor, it helps to know what type of editor you need before you even start looking. Many of the unsatisfactory experiences between writers and editors are a result of unclear expectations—usually, but not exclusively, on the writer’s side. “Editing” doesn’t necessarily mean “fixing everything.”
Knowing the type of editing you need for your book can save a lot of time, effort, and money. Starting from the most broad to the most specific, here are the types of editing you should look for, depending on where you are in the writing process and where you think you need the most help.
Developmental editing
A developmental editor will look through your entire manuscript with plot, voice, structure, point of view, pace, and “big picture” items in mind—basically looking at the forest, rather than individual trees. This type of edit can’t be rushed and is costly as a result of the amount of time involved.
Depending on what part of the world you live in, developmental editing is sometimes called structural or substantive editing. Regardless of which term is used, they both mean essentially the same thing (with regional exceptions)—the editor looks at the overall organization of the piece and not just the word usage or sentence structure. Scientific editor Geoff Hart states that the purpose of substantive editing is “to make the document functional for its readers, not just to make it correct and consistent.”
A developmental editor may, for a fiction manuscript, suggest that your story would flow better if it were told from a first-person point of view instead of the third-person POV you’ve written it in. For nonfiction, they may suggest rearranging the chapters in your self-help book or memoir so the information flows in a more logical, easy-to-read fashion. They may ask you to defend your position with facts or research data in a book that claims certain foods will heal an illness.
Developmental editing can often take months, depending on how much work needs done. The editor may give you suggestions to aid your research, work with you to organize or repair your book’s timeline, and spot your plot holes. There will be rewriting, and it will be done by you, the author, rather than the editor.
For those of you who worry about cost, rest assured that a developmental edit is well worth the investment. In fact, if you treat yourself to a DE early on in your book-writing journey, it may be the only one you need: because such broad strokes are covered in this type of edit, the lessons you learn from it are the things you’ll use again and again.
Line editing
As a label, line editing can be a tricky thing. It’s in the gray area between copyediting and developmental editing, falling a little closer to the copyediting end of things. Some use the term “line editing” interchangeably with “copyediting.” Some also call it stylistic. This is why it’s important to do your research when hiring an editor, asking specific questions, so you know you’re both referring to the same needs and service.
Line editing involves—surprise, surprise—looking at each line, analyzing the sentences to see what can be done to make them stronger. If developmental editing looks at the forest, line editing notes the individual tree varieties and their placement. Word choice is important to the impact a sentence will make, so strengthening a verb or eliminating “fluff” words can tighten the prose.
Line editing also looks for clichés & jargon, overused words, and redundancies in your sentences. Every author has their favorite words or phrases, and what goes unnoticed to you may stand out to others.
The “showing vs. telling” habit is also looked at during a line edit. Adverbs aren’t evil, but if they’re overused, there may be a more descriptive way to write what’s needed. Head-hopping (point of view inconsistencies) is corrected. Excessive or incorrect dialogue tags are noted.
Sentence length is analyzed—too many choppy sentences in a row may give an abrupt or immature feel to the writing, and too many lengthy, complex sentences may cause the reader to skim.
Line editing precedes copyediting (and is often included in a copyediting package) because there’s no sense in fixing small items like punctuation, for example, if the sentence may end up being eliminated entirely.
If you’re looking for line editing and/or copyediting, take a closer look here at my services page.
Copyediting
Copyediting is the most common type of editing people think of when they say the word “editor.” If you’ve finished writing and revising your book and are looking for an editor, you’re probably looking for a copyeditor (who also provides line editing). If you’ve found errors in a published book or news article, your cry of “Don’t they have an editor?” probably refers to a copyeditor.
The copyediting phase is when your manuscript gets its most polished look. This is when all the hyphenation and capitalization rules are applied, when our copy of The Chicago Manual of Style gets its heaviest use, and when we add dozens—if not hundreds—of names, notes, and preferences to our style sheets. Spelling, spacing, and grammar are the superstars of the hour.
Please don’t forget to have your copyeditor read through all your front matter, your acknowledgments, your back cover copy, your Amazon description, and anything else that’s included in your book. Having the manuscript properly edited and then winging it for all the rest of the material can backfire terribly. Your online book description/summary is a representation of your writing to prospective buyers. Why would a reader open your book if the back cover or listing has errors?
Think you’re ready for a copyeditor? Click here to learn more about my copyediting services.
Proofreading
Proofreaders are the last step before you send your book to print. At this point, the book has already been copyedited and is now formatted for print or ebook. The book pages look exactly as they will when a reader pulls your book off the shelf.
Proofreading should reveal very few errors. If copyediting has been done well, the proofreading should be a breeze, unless errors have been introduced somewhere in the process between the copyeditor and designer. The sad fact is that each time your manuscript is touched by someone new, a fresh opportunity presents itself for errors to be introduced.
Whether it’s an odd space, improperly placed hyphenation in a chapter heading, or missing photo caption, errors can occur. And there are always those authors who just wanted to “add a few more lines” to something but didn’t ask the copyeditor to look over the new material. But the job of the proofreader is to compare the final edited copy with the formatted/designed copy and to note any discrepancies.
This is not the time to rewrite an awkward sentence, because changing too many things can alter the formatting as one change cascades into another.
If your manuscript has already gone through the copyediting phase, I’d be happy to proofread the formatted final copy! Check out my services page for more details.
The order of services is important
Even though you may want to send the most bookish-looking document to your editor right away, don’t put in the effort where it’s not needed. Yes, you should polish the narrative and dialogue as much as is possible, according to your skill level. But other than implementing a few formatting basics like automatic indentations when hitting “enter,” or using Word Styles to make chapter headings easily searchable, true formatting is unnecessary for anything other than the proofreading stage.
In fact, your copyeditor may ask you for the unformatted document so they can work on the document more easily. Trying to perform an edit on a book that’s already been formatted is much more time-consuming and, in my experience, fatiguing on the eyes. It will either cost you more money because of the extra time, or more money to the formatter to have things fixed after editing.
Think of the order in the same way you’d think of any assembly: you mix a cake (writing), bake it (revising), assemble it (developmental editing), frost it (line editing), decorate it (copyediting), and add candles & sprinkles before serving (proofreading). Everything should flow from big-picture items to detail work, not the other way around.
Developmental editing: big picture; overall flow; solid timeline; no plot holes; appropriate point of view
Line editing: strengthen sentences by removing redundancies, weak verbs, and clichés; tighten the prose; eliminate head-hopping; focus on grammar and syntax
Copyediting: detail work; spelling and word usage; apply rules and styles; typos; punctuation; consistency
Proofreading: make sure formatted final copy is accurate to final copyedited MS; correct any errors introduced during formatting; minimal interference with writing
In summary
Know what type of editing you’re looking for, and make sure the editor is transparent about exactly what they will and won’t do for the money you’re spending. Having a clear picture of what you’ll end up with when the work is done is essential to a happy working relationship on both sides.
If you’re interested in taking the next step in the editing process, let’s talk! Take a look at my services page and fill out my contact form so I have as much information as possible to help you narrow down exactly what you need.
