The 5 Editing Styles: Which Do You Need Right Now

Literary editors are every writer’s best friend – we have skills, experience, and the knowledge to take your manuscript from personal project to publishable material. However, not all editors do the same job and it’s important to understand what type of editing your project needs at any given stage.

In this guide, I’ll take you through the different type of editing and offer some insights on the process.

The Five Main Types of Editing:

1.     Editorial Assessments – These provide broad feedback in the early stages of a manuscript.

2.     Developmental Editing – An editor will offer advice on “big-picture” issues, such as plot holes or character development.

3.     Copy Editing – This focuses on technical issues like spelling and grammar.

4.     Proofreading – This will ensure your manuscript is error-free before it goes to print.

5.     Fact Checking – This will take care of any informational inconsistencies.

Little Lion Press offers services pertaining to all types of editing. For more details, email jasminacoric@littlelionpress.co.uk.

So, what kind of editing do you need? Answer the questions to this short quiz to find out!

1.     What are we editing?

a.     Short Story

b.     Novel

c.     Non-fiction book

d.     Essay

If you answered A or B, you may need editing style 1 through 4, whereas C and D may require any one of these editing styles.

2.     Have you ever written a novel before?

a.     Yes

b.     No

Those who answer no are more likely to need an editorial assessment to see if they’re headed in the right direction. If you answered yes, you can probably bypass the editorial assessment, unless you’re really stuck.

3.     Have you already done some self-editing on this one?

a.     Yes

b.     No

If yes, you can probably leave the copy editing and move straight on to the proofreading and/or developmental editing. But, even if you’ve edited, if you’re not confident in your abilities yet, it may be worth looking into a professional editor.

4.     Which of these potential story issues concerns you the most?

a.     Plot holes and inconsistencies

b.     Lack of conflict

c.     Shallow or unrealistic characterisation

d.     I think my story is pretty strong in all these areas

If you answered A, B, or C, it will be well worth considering a developmental editor, as they’ll be able to help with all these issues.

5.     Do you think your novel is ready to publish?

a.     Yes

b.     No

If yes, it’s time for a proofreading! If no, you’ll want to evaluate why you’re uncertain that it’s ready and, from there, determine what sort of editor you need.

Great! Hopefully that helped you pin down what sort of editing you need done. Now let's take a closer look at each of these.

Editorial Assessment

 An editorial assessment is the first piece of professional help a manuscript might receive. Your editor will offer you broad, yet insightful feedback on any major strengths and weaknesses in your plot, characters, or structure.

You won’t receive comments and example rewrites in the manuscript. Instead, you would get a letter that focuses on the broad strokes. An editorial assessment is best for an author in the early process of writing who needs someone to help guide them.

Seeking an editorial assessment will set you and your novel on the right path early on, which will make developmental editing easier down the line.

Developmental Editing

 Also known as content, structural, or substantive editing, developmental editing involves an editor providing detailed feedback on “big picture” issues. They’ll refine your ideas, help shape your narrative, and fix any major plot or character inconsistencies so you know what elements of your book just aren’t working. It’s similar to an editorial assessment, but contains much more detail and is usually done for the whole book.

When I do a developmental edit, I look at the big questions. Why are characters behaving as they do? What are their motivations? Do these scenes add to the overall story? What is your underlying theme and how does it change?”

For this type of editing, the editor will return an annotated manuscript with specific suggestions, as well as an editorial report.

Copy Editing

 Copy editing is the next step after you’re certain that you’ve solved the big-picture issues in your book. An editor will read your work on the lookout for anything that makes it less readable.

The copy editor’s job is to bring the author’s completed manuscript to a more professional level. A copy edit helps to create the most readable version of your book, improving clarity, coherency, consistency, and correctness. The goal is to bridge any remaining gaps between the author’s intent and the reader’s understanding.

A copy editor examines and corrects spelling, grammar, capitalisation, word usage/repetition, dialogue tags, usage of numbers or numerals, POV/tense, and descriptive inconsistencies.

Hold on, you might say, is line editing the same as copy editing? People often use the two interchangeably, but line editing focuses specifically on the content of your prose, also known as stylistic editing. It focuses on style rather than mechanics.

Proofreading

 Proofreading is the last major part of the editing process. Proof-readers are the eagle-eyed, the inspectors who take a magnifying glass to your work to make sure no spelling or grammar errors make it into the final version of your work. They’ll watch out for inconsistencies in spelling and style, confusing or awkward word breaks, and many of the same errors a copy editor will look out for. They won’t, however, focus on the flow of the novel. They’re just there to pick out the little problems.

When working with a proof-reader, you should provide them with a style sheet that notifies them of any unusual spellings or style in your manuscript. For example, if you’ve written a fantasy novel and have invented some words. Otherwise, they’ll read your manuscript blind.

Once they’re done, they’ll return a marked-up document for you to revise one final time.

Fact Checking

 No matter how thoroughly you research your book, it can still end up with information inconsistencies. If you have a lot of niche information in your book, you might consider getting a designated fact-checker to look through it. They’ll note all factual references in your book then confirm via external sources.

Rome wasn’t built in the day and your book is the same – a quick fix won’t be enough to create a book you’re truly proud of. An outside perspective from a professional editor will help you lay the foundation of your novel and polish the final product. Little Lion Press offers editorial assessments, developmental editing, copy-editing, and proofreading services. Please feel free to contact us at jasminacoric@littlelionpress.co.uk for more information!