Which Type of Editing Is Right For You?

You’ve been poring over your manuscript for months, and you’re finally ready to begin the revision process. All you need to do is hire an editor. It should be easy, right? Don’t all editors do the same thing?

It’s actually not that simple. Ideally, a manuscript goes through several types of editing to prepare for publication. In order, these steps would include developmental editing, line editing, copy editing, and proofreading.

Some editors correlate jobs, including copy editing and fact checking, correlative editing, and style editing in the same pass. To make matters even more confusing, many editors don’t even use the same terms to describe what could be the same job. For example, sometimes the terms line editing, content editing, and substantive editing are used interchangeably. (You would think, in a field that values precise language, we would all use the same lingo. Unfortunately, we don’t.)

To make the editorial process more clear, let’s take a look at the different kinds of editing available and see which one is right for you.

Developmental editing addresses various story element issues like plot holes, poorly developed characters, and confusing dialogue. In short, it’s the big picture stuff. A developmental editor will look at the structure and content of your book to make sure the story works well, and in the case of non-fiction, that your argument is clear and fluid.

The goal of developmental editing is to examine the broader elements and see what needs further adjustments before moving on to line or copy editing. In traditional publishing, your acquisition editor usually functions as your developmental editor. It’s easy to spot a book that needs developmental editing — they are frequently too long with side plots that go nowhere.

Line editing, sometimes called substantive or content editing, addresses the creative content, writing style, and language use at the sentence and paragraph level. A line editor will look at your manuscript line by line, suggesting rewrites for areas that contain awkward phrasing, repetitive text, and run-on sentences. For example, is your language clear, fluid, and pleasurable to read? Does it make sense? Are there any redundancies or inconsistencies in the text?

Line editors also vary repeated verbs and adjectives, add dashes and parentheses where needed for clarification, shorten run-on sentences, add transitions to improve flow, check for correct parallel construction, rearrange paragraphs if needed, and note areas where additional citations may be needed or the argument is weak.

Copy editing focuses on your language, or copy. A copy edit will fix issues with spelling, grammar, punctuation, and consistency. Copy editing makes your manuscript clean and consistent.

A copy editor is looking for misspelled words, missing words, repeated words, problems with subject-verb agreement, incorrect verb tense, unnecessary or missing commas, dangling or misplaced modifiers, problems with pronoun-antecedent agreement, misused words (e.g., effect for affect), incomplete sentences, run-on sentences, faulty attempts at parallel construction, incorrect numbering in charts and tables, incorrect dates, and broken hyperlinks.

Copy editors can also perform style editing, which involves formatting your manuscript to the style guide of your choice. The four main manuals of style are The Chicago Manual of Style (CMS), the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA), the Modern Language Association Style Manual (MLA), and the Associated Press Stylebook (AP Style).

Each style guide details how to style headings and subheadings, titles, serial commas, numbers, acronyms, compound words, fonts, references, and illustrations. Some editors will include style editing with their services, others may add this a la carte style with a separate fee. The same goes for fact checking.

Academic copy editors must perform correlation editing, which involves checking related parts of the manuscript against each other. This is an extremely important step for dissertations, theses, and academic articles or books, as these frequently have many related parts. For example, do all citations in the text appear in the references? Do all references appear in the text? Are all of the pages in the table of contents correct? Are all references to pages, tables, figures, captions and endnotes correct?

Copy editing is the most frequently needed service in the book editing process. If you can only afford one level of editing, I would suggest copy editing to clean up grammatical issues.

Proofreading is usually the last stage of the book editing process. It is a final check for any remaining typos before your manuscript is published. A proofreader will look for basic spelling and grammatical errors, make sure there aren’t any layout or formatting issues, and make sure all references and captions are correct. In a publishing house, proofreading is done on proofs, or the print-ready document. In self-publishing, many freelancers use to term proofreading to mean a light copy edit.

In addition to the above, there are some editors who assistant layout preparation by type coding. There are even professionals who offer indexing services (yes, that’s a thing). If this seems like a lot to take in, you’re not alone. When I took my first copy editing course, I found these terms confusing and overwhelming. Many steps overlap.

If you’re not sure what type of editing you need, ask your editor what they suggest. You may also wish to consider for a sample edit, which will give you an idea of whether you want a heavier or lighter touch before committing to a service.

If you’re ready to hire an editor, check out this post on How to Hire and Work With an Editor.