Developmental Editing: “Tree Planting”

Developmental editing is often done even before the first draft of the manuscript is written. The tree planting process is meticulously planned and strategized before it can be completed to grow into a lush forest.

Developmental editing (better referred to as story coaching) exists to help you craft strong narratives and gain insight into how to go about piecing together all the elements that will make up your story—before you even finish your first draft, and in some cases, before you even begin writing.

Story coaches coach you through developing a strong plot, relatable characters, and a great story arc.

We do offer this option, but we offer it under our Coaching & Consulting service, since it really falls under coaching more than it does editing. You can think of it as a preventative measure or jumping off point to prepare you for writing your first draft. If you have a great idea but are struggling to bring it together and need some outside input, then a developmental editor is the right choice for you.

What You Get:

We coach you through the process of creating an outline for your story that includes a strong narrative and story arc.

We show you how to create the ideal story form and help you overcome foundational weaknesses.

We help you organize and build on your story’s main plot, including the conflict and resolution, as well as any subplots (if applicable).

We brainstorm with you your goals and the message you would like to convey through your book, if any.

We help you develop relatable and dynamic characters; we also identify points of growth and change to complete their character arcs (for example, internal vs. external conflict, goals, growth, personality, motivation, consistency of character, and more).

We help you take care of the details before you begin, so you have those in mind (in your subconscious) as you write your story.

We make sure the details match your market, such as genre and subgenre, ideal word count, point of view, dialogue, setting, organization, readability, appropriate story structure (which includes pacing, tone, voice, theme, balance, resolution, and how the story ends), whether a serialized narrative or a series of books is appropriate, and more.

We help you identify plot holes, inconsistencies, or other confusing aspects of your story.

We help you build your scenes and may suggest cuts to scenes that don’t serve a purpose for your plot; conversely, we may suggest adding to scenes if they require further narrative or descriptive development.

We ask targeted questions to help you gain insight into your story and how you approach the creative process.

We focus on how all the elements of your story work together.

We analyze and critique your ideas for publishing success.

Content Editing: “The Forest”

Dive into the forest that is your story. Craft strong narratives and gain editing insight at the highest level. Strengthen your story arc, character development, and plot. These form the foundation of your story.

Content or structural editing focuses on editing at the story level. This includes plot, characters, setting, pace, timing, tone, voice, scene, point of view, dialogue, organization, readability, and more. It is the most in-depth editing service available for storytellers.

Content editing is the first stage of the editing process. It is your ideal choice if you have just completed your manuscript or piece of writing and would like a fresh pair of eyes to look over the big picture parts of your story and make sure everything fits together in a cohesive structure. Choose this option if you desire honest feedback and thorough professional guidance on your story’s overall presentation.

Content editing overlaps some with developmental editing. However, a content editor will take on a completed manuscript draft while a developmental editor will help writers with only partially completed manuscripts or before beginning the process of writing that first draft.

What You Get:

We evaluate your writing as one cohesive storytelling structure, including critiques on flow, presentation, and consistency of thoughts.

We organize your writing while giving extensive high-level feedback, corrections, and suggestions throughout your document’s comments section.

We provide professional, structural analysis of elements at the story level, such as plot, characters, setting, pace, timing, tone, voice, scene, point of view, dialogue, organization, readability.

In addition to the copious amount of notes we insert into your document’s margins, we provide an editorial letter that will highlight your book’s strengths and weaknesses in all the story-level elements.

We help you strategize your revision plan and set you up for publishing success.

We ensure writing and formatting adheres to industry style guidelines (i.e. The Chicago Manual of Style, which is the industry standard for all fiction genres as well as general nonfiction).

We edit according to Professional Editorial Standards for Structural Editing.

Line Editing: “The Trees”

If your manuscript or piece of writing is a forest, then the individual sentences are the trees that make up the forest. While content editing deals with the forest in its entirety, line editing zeroes in on the individual trees and also on how they cluster together.

Line editing (also referred to as stylistic editing) is editing at the sentence and paragraph level. It addresses your use of language and how you communicate with your reader.

Line editing improves the clarity, continuity, and flow of your writing—line by line. It focuses on writing style as well as structure (syntax and semantics). It corrects phrasing (including appropriate transitional phrasing), subject-verb agreement, and more.

With line editing, you receive in-line editorial feedback and remarks throughout your manuscript as well as comments in the margins explaining the suggested changes.

Line editing is the writing industry standard, and as such, it is the minimum level of professional editing recommended for writers before they publish or submit their work for publication.

What You Get:

We deliver extensive in-line corrections through your document’s track changes function.

We provide a thorough analysis at the sentence and paragraph level, paying careful attention to writing style and structure, language use, dialogue, communication style, continuity, clarity, and flow of writing.

We correct errors in phrasing, sentence structure, subject-verb agreement, and more.

We ensure writing and formatting adheres to industry style guidelines (i.e. The Chicago Manual of Style, which is the industry standard for all fiction genres as well as general nonfiction).

We edit according to Professional Editorial Standards for Stylistic Editing.

Copy Editing: “The Branches & Roots”

Like line editing, copy editing focuses on the individual elements that make up the forest. Copy editing deals with the branches and roots, and how they cluster together. Without the branches, the tree would simply be a stump in the ground. Without roots, the tree would fall over and cease to exist.

Copy editing is most often what people think of when they hear the word editing. It is also the most popular form of editing, since it includes the basics—the bare minimum requirements for a passable book.

Copy editing involves checking for grammar, spelling, and punctuation. It ensures consistency in style, word choice, and compositional spacing. It focuses on eliminating jargon and repeated words.

Choose this option as your final edit or if you have no planned changes after—right before formatting, proofreading, and then publishing.

What You Get:

We provide extensive in-line corrections delivered through your document’s track changes function.

We look for and correct errors in spelling, grammar, punctuation, capitalization, numbers, hyphen use, lists of items (if applicable), numbering, table of contents (if applicable), table and figure numbers (if applicable), gender neutrality, formatting, incorrect word usage, and more.

In addition to the above, we look for and correct redundancies, wordiness, triteness, vague generalizations, weak sentence style, organizational weakness, and lack of focus.

We provide you with a style sheet and final checklist you can submit for proofreading, which is the final step of the process before publishing.

We ensure writing and formatting adheres to industry style guidelines (i.e. The Chicago Manual of Style, which is the industry standard for all fiction genres as well as general nonfiction).

We edit according to Professional Editorial Standards for Copy Editing.

Proofreading: “The Bark”

Proofreading is the bark of the editing ecosystem. It looks at the surface layer of the piece and scans for any final finishing touches that might have slipped through the cracks in previous editing steps.

Proofreading is the final step in the editing and publishing process, the last quality assurance check before your work is set to publish or submit to be published. Your piece is formatted at this point and has gone through the previous levels of editing.

This final check includes looking the piece over for spelling, grammar, punctuation, and subject-verb agreement. Choose this option if you are confident in your piece and just need a second set of eyes before publishing.

What You Get:

We correct any remaining typos, grammar mistakes, and formatting errors throughout your piece. Copy and paste error? Extra line break? Misplaced modifier? Forgot to close a quotation in a line of dialogue? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered.

If you had your work copy edited prior to proofreading, we recommend asking your copy editor for the style sheet and final checklist (if applicable) and submitting that to us for proofreading.

We ensure writing and formatting adheres to industry style guidelines (i.e. The Chicago Manual of Style, which is the industry standard for all fiction genres as well as general nonfiction).

We edit according to Professional Editorial Standards for Proofreading.