Book Editing
You’ve completed your draft, and you’re chomping at the bit to publish your book. First, though, comes editing.
As much as you’d like to rush through the editing process, you know that editing is arguably the most important step you can take. Editing clears up not only obvious things like grammar and punctuation, but also more subtle elements such as character development and pacing.
In fact, the editing process is made of different stages. While some authors prefer to work with the same editor throughout the entire process, it is usually helpful to have the same editor complete the first two stages, while a fresh set of eyes can be helpful for the final stage (the final proofread).
The typical stages of editing are:
Developmental Edit
Stage 1, Developmental Editing, also called substantive, structural, comprehensive, or initial editing, takes a big picture look at your novel, assessing things such as plot, flow, character development, and dialogue. With the developmental edit, I provide a thorough editor’s report that is your guide while you revise and rewrite, as it details the issues found and highlights the suggested solutions.
Again, developmental editing is an overview look at your book. Nit-picky things like spelling and grammar will not be the focus. Rather, your book will be read in its entirety and big picture items will be noted. At this stage, I will thoroughly read your book and will provide a detailed report outlining suggested revisions. You’ll receive a written analysis as well as changes marked on your draft itself.
Some of the items included in Developmental Editing (Stage 1) are:
- Awkward, inappropriate or unrealistic dialogue
- Chapter titles
- Clarity
- Confusing or clumsy wording
- Facts checked and corrected
- Flow
- Inconsistencies
- Organization of content
- Overuse of passive voice
- Pacing
- Plot issues
- Point-of-view issues/inconsistencies
- Poor word choice
- Quick proofreading to check and correct for spelling, grammar, etc.
- Rearrangement of sections
- Redundancies
- Repetition
- Sentence clarity/structure
- Showing vs. telling
- Tone
In addition, if you want to check in on the flow of your book and get some feedback up-front to help guide you as you write the remainder of your book, you can choose to have just your first 10 pages reviewed. The fee for this is $250.
Line Editing (Stage 2)
Stage 2, Line Editing, also called copy editing, is a more thorough look at your book, basically editing it, as its name suggests, line-by-line. Once you, the author, have made the revisions suggested from the Developmental Edit (Stage 1), your book is resubmitted to your editor for Line Editing (Stage 2).
Line editing is just that, a line-by-line edit that examines spelling, grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, typos, and more. In your line edit, you’ll receive your manuscript from me as an electronic file with changes/corrections shown via Track Changes in Microsoft Word.
Some of the items included in Line Editing (Stage 2) are:
- Ensuring that singular pronouns represent singular nouns and plural pronouns, plural nouns
- Format style decisions based on Chicago Manual of Style (academic titles, quotation marks, use of numerals, etc.)
- Incorrectly structured sentences
- Manuscript formatting
- Spacing of letters, sentences, and paragraphs
- Spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors
- Syntax issues
- Typographical errors (“typos”)
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