What are The Different Types of Editing?
After completing your manuscript, you will likely not want to revisit and read it again. You may feel overwhelmed and even feel defeated by the thought of reviewing each page for errors. However, no matter how much you may feel like setting your manuscript aside and not looking at it again, the next critical step is to complete a dedicated and well thought-out editing process.
To move forward, you’ll need to go through each page of your manuscript to find, fix and enhance errors. At the same time, you cannot expect to do this effectively if you are not experienced. Because you are so close to your work, it will not be easy to look at your writing objectively. It is easy to miss both minor inconsistencies and major problems with your text because you already know the content. In addition, if you are a new author of books or long-form pieces, you may not fully understand how the book publishing (Amazon Book Publishing) process works.
Experienced editors are invaluable to professionals; they provide an objective point of view, technical know-how and also provide knowledge about what constitutes good, concise and effective writing based on years of experience. Having their input on manuscripts will help to enhance the quality of the manuscript with regard to improving the author’s writing style, word choices, and identifying incorrect grammar or spelling mistakes that the author may be unaware of.
Because there are different types of editing, selecting the right type for your manuscript can be confusing and/or overwhelming. This post will provide an overview of the different types of editing options available to authors for their manuscripts and other types of written content, so that by the conclusion of this post, you will know which editing type(s) your manuscript’s final version requires.
Developmental or Structural Editing:
The Major Edits
Also known as substantive or developmental editing, this type of editing will help you create the best possible manuscript. At this phase of the editing process, your editor will help to clarify what you want your audience to take away from your work. In addition, your editor will assist you with looking at larger-scale concerns, improving narrative flow, and refining style. In addition, your editor will assist you with reducing repetitive phrases, filling any gaps in logic, and improving upon any weak arguments to create a cohesive and interesting reading experience that has been developed.
Developmental editing may include:
An editor will help you revise your book by reviewing your work for the following issues:
- Reorganizing the content within a book to create a stronger unity and coherence in the overall flow of the material.
- Revising the overall structure and flow of your material.
- Offer you new ideas to replace repetitive content, and lastly, provide you with constructive criticism and suggestions to improve the quality of your work.
Among the various types of editing services, developmental editing is highly sought after. Unlike copyediting that focuses on surface-level errors, a developmental editor works closely with an author to build a manuscript into a compelling and powerful narrative. A developmental editor will read the book from beginning to end and will assist in determining what areas of the manuscript remain as they are, which need to be cut or reorganized, and where additional content should be added. Additionally, the developmental editor may recommend structural improvements to the manuscript that will strengthen its overall effectiveness, such as character development, plotline restructuring, or better clarification of themes.
In addition to all of the above, a developmental editor often guides an author through the process of publishing their book. This includes helping them create effective query and/or cover letters, as well as providing detailed feedback on sample chapters submitted to agents and/or publishers.
Line Editing
Line editing is the second step in the editing process. This stage focuses on how clear, smooth, and well-written your writing is at the sentence level. Through line editing, an editor will improve your sentences by improving their structures and flow. An editor will also remove any repeat words and cut unnecessary words. Additionally, an editor makes sure that your writing style is appropriate for your audience by eliminating confusion using jargon and enhancing the pacing, clarity, and tone. During the line editing process, line editors often find repeated phrases, missing words, awkward transitions, and wording problems that hurt your reader’s ability to enjoy your work.
For eBooks in particular, one major purpose of line editing is to ensure a consistent voice and tone throughout the manuscript. When an author changes their style dramatically from one chapter to the next, it can confuse or disengage readers. This type of inconsistency can result in bad reviews, reduced sales, and reduced publishing opportunities for the author.
Line editing also helps your book or content to be recognized professionally, as it aligns with a defined set of genre expectations. In the case of science fiction, this could be the use of non-traditional terminology. So, if you want your novel to be viewed as innovative, for example, calling lasers “phasers” may instead be viewed as unpolished. Large Publishers have strict style suggestions and formatting requirements for title names (such as character names), references and manuscript preparation. Therefore, an experienced or established editor is required to guarantee that the manuscript conforms to these industry standards, which an inexperienced or self-publishing editor may not be aware of.
Line Edit vs Developmental Editing
Line editing represents one of the most widely offered types of editing services – where an editor reads your book/content and assesses it line-by-line. The line editor primarily focuses on correcting surface errors such as grammatical, spelling, punctuation and formatting errors. At this stage of editing, a line editor helps to improve readability as well as to ensure that your manuscript has a consistent appearance but does not include any structural organisation issues (all of the above are at the sentence level).
On the other end of the spectrum is Developmental Editing; this type of editing is not simply a proofreader fixing surface errors but instead, focuses on the “big picture” of the manuscript. Specifically, it addresses the overall structure and organisation, as well as the logical flow of the material. Examples of elements included in a developmental edit would be adding or removing material from the manuscript (when necessary) and/or helping the author develop a more engaging introduction or conclusion.
While Line Editing and Developmental Editing are often confused with each other (both types involve reading and reviewing a manuscript), their primary difference lies in the level of detail reviewed. Developmental Editing addresses both how well the content and structure of a manuscript work together to produce an effective piece, while Line Editing is focused solely on how well sentences in the manuscript are formatted and styled.
Copy Editing
The last phase of editing on a draft (manuscript) is the copy editor’s responsibility. The responsibility of a copy editor varies greatly, but included in their duties may include those of a line editor and proofreader. A copy editor must be able to eliminate grammatical errors, misspellings, and punctuation mistakes. Copy editors must also look at the general flow of the manuscript/article, as failure to do so could impact readability, thus creating a barrier between you and your audience. Therefore it is critical that copy editors maintain uniformity between tenses, voices, and the overall readability of the production.
It is common for the term “copy editing” to be used to describe any editing (other than developmental) that has nothing to do with the writing portion of a book or article. Line editors work with the most creative elements of a piece; therefore, copy editors concentrate on polishing the finishing touches, such as pointing out inconsistencies and ensuring that all elements match throughout the piece. Covering these two areas would not be fair to either group of editors because they perform different types of tasks.
Generally, copy editors are employed by publishing companies, magazines, and similar businesses to edit original manuscripts before they hit the print stages. As a copy editor, it will be your responsibility to review the original manuscript thoroughly to ensure that no typos, grammar errors, or punctuation mistakes are overlooked, and to ensure that there are no inconsistencies within the text. Once the copy editor has reviewed the manuscript, it will be considered ready for the last stage—proofreading.
How is it different from line editing?
If you have been searching for editing or writing services online, then you have likely stumbled across many advertisements that promote line, copy, and proofreading services. Although these three terms are commonly confused among writers. They are all completely different from one another.
Line Editing addresses grammatical, punctuation, sentence structure, or the organization of sentences within a manuscript as well as tightening up the wording of some sentences where applicable. Copy Editing, on the other hand, typically comprises a much more thorough review of a document. A Copy Editor may also take the time to clarify and simplify sentences and may also convert the format of the document into the necessary style as well as confirm that the sources that support any claims or arguments made within the document have been appropriately referenced and are in compliance with copyright.
Many times the terms “Copy” and “Line” Editing are used interchangeably, even though many companies charge much higher than normal rates for Copy Editing services. Once writers know how to distinguish between Copy, Line and Proofreading Editors and have researched the right companies for the right service, they can avoid paying for the same service over and over again. This will allow them to put forth the necessary effort to create higher quality manuscripts that will reflect their abilities.
Is Content Editing Any Different?
As previously discussed, the primary forms of editing are content editing and substantive or line editing, and the final stage of editing is proofreading. Both processes involve reviewing your article or blog post for clarity as well as correcting errors in grammar, punctuation, and spelling.
Content editing has two primary stages: substantive editing and line editing, followed by proofreading. After you have finished writing your blog post or article, substantive editing is the first type of content editing that you do to begin shaping and developing your ideas into a cohesive whole. After you have created a cohesive whole, you move on to line editing, which is where you will be concerned with issues of grammar and punctuation, and other elements of your writing that will help to improve the clarity and readability of the text.
Proofreading: Last on the List
Proofreading is the third and final stage of the content editing process, and involves checking for any remaining issues with spelling, grammar, punctuation, or syntax, and identifying those issues so that you can correct them. All three phases of the content editing process will produce content that is polished, finished, and ready for publishing. Good content editing improves the quality of the reading experience, provides readers with an enjoyable experience, and bolsters your credibility as an author. Plus, published content is critical to obtaining new customers and maintaining leads. Given the intensity of competition in the online world, it is equally important that authors pay special attention to the quality of the content editing they perform to produce content that will stand out in the marketplace.
Is Mechanical Editing Similar to Proofreading?
Many editors use style guides or reference manuals to assist them in reviewing a manuscript to help confirm that spelling, grammar, punctuation, and word usage are correct and that typographical errors are identified and corrected. In addition to providing rules for correct spelling and grammatical conventions, style guides, like the Chicago Manual of Style, also provide guidelines to promote uniformity throughout the published work.
Mechanical edits are types of edits performed on manuscripts for the primary purpose of ensuring that the manuscript follows the guidelines in the style guide (which may include things like writing style, formatting of the completed book, etc.), and serves as a second round of review if the manuscript is required to be submitted to the publisher as part of their editing services.
Wrapping up
To define the expectations you will have while seeking professional editing, we have provided you with information regarding the various categories of editing services that are available, as well as a comprehensive description of all the editing services that we provide, including general editing services, children’s book editing, and so forth. When reviewing our range of editing service offerings, you are strongly encouraged to select those services that most closely fit your individual requirements.
