

Or you can seek a developmental edit, which means the editor makes changes to the document, often utilizing MS Word’s Track Changes tools to show what they’ve changed. You are a self-sufficient writer who can make revisions on your own in manuscripts that are mechanically clean (grammar, style, punctuation, spelling) but want to ensure you haven’t missed plot holes or other big picture issues.This can be in the form of a critique or editorial assessment, where no changes are made in the manuscript, but you will receive feedback and advice on plot, setting, character arc, and writing technique. The first level of editing is developmental, where the editor looks at the big picture content of the story to look for things that are missing or that could be improved. Your editor may combine line edits and copy edits within a developmental/content edit this is often what I do. Hopefully, the explanations below will help clear the confusion.ĭifferent editors may specialize in one level of editing or be a “generalist,” an editor who does all levels.


A writer who has researched this at all will have already discovered this confusion in how different editors or editing services list service levels and pricing. The reason for the “or” in the labels above is due to a lack of universal labeling of each stage of edit. Once a writer has the final draft (please, not the first draft), a manuscript should undergo a minimum of four levels of editing before it is truly polished and ready to publish:
Types of manuscript editing professional#
How do you know what types of editing to seek when hiring a professional editor to go over your manuscript? THE FOUR LEVELS OF EDITS NEEDED Before sending it out into the world, you want to ensure your manuscripts are tightly-written, match genre expectations, and deliver a compelling read. While some agents offer editing services, and a publishing house will assign you an editor if they decide to contract the book, an unpolished manuscript will never make it that far. Your first impulse is to throw the book up onto a self-publishing site as fast as possible or to send out query letters to agents and publishers, right? Hold that thought you first need to hire a professional editor. You did it-you wrote “the end” on your book! You’ve drafted and re-drafted, revised, self-edited, and are pretty sure it’s as done as you can make it.
