Types of Editing

Each type of editing has an appropriate stage at which it’s needed.

Authors can choose to bypass or combine some of these, but must be aware of why they are doing so and the potential consequences of that choice.

DEVELOPMENTAL or CONTENT EDITING—This is the “big picture” overall look at your project, likely done after your first draft or after beta reader input. Does the plot hold together? Is your nonfiction book presented in a cohesive way? Does your protagonist have a dynamic character arc? How is your pacing? Critique groups and beta readers can also be helpful with this.

LINE EDITING—This is the stylistic or craft phase. Once your plot/presentation and characters and arc are solid, this is when an editor goes through line by line to evaluate use of words, tenses, POV consistency, appropriate vocabulary, sentence structure, flow, syntax, quality of dialogue, narrative voice. If the writer is fairly skilled, this phase can sometimes be combined with copyediting.

COPYEDITING—This is what most people think of when they refer to editing; it evaluates grammar, punctuation, capitalization, and consistency throughout the work. There is no point in paying for this stage if you are still doing revisions in the above stages. Grammar software can be helpful (free or paid versions) and might reduce your copyediting costs—especially if you intend to write several books—but software does not and cannot replace the human eye or brain.

PROOFREADING—This is best done at the very final stage—AFTER your digital design and formatting are done—to ensure no glitches were introduced during the formatting, that page numbers are correct, photos and captions or charts are where they need to be, etc., and to pick up any widows or orphans or the odd typo missed in copyediting.

Expect an edit to take 3-8 weeks for an average book.

A quality editor will be booked for 1-6 months in advance.

Plan ahead.