WHY SHOULD I WORK WITH A PROFESSIONAL EDITOR?
The short answer is that a professional editor is in the best position to help you produce the best work possible, work that best represents who you are as an author. Book editing is a craft and a talent that is honed over time. So, a professional book editor—as opposed to, say, a friend, a family member, or even an avid reader—has been trained to know what makes a book work and to recognize when and where a book is not successful. A professional editor not only knows why a book is not successful, but also knows how to help an author improve every aspect of the writing—from plotting, voice, and style to character development, dialogue, and structure. Working with a professional editor is the best way to improve the way you write.
WHAT IS A CONTENT OR DEVELOPMENTAL EDIT?
A content edit does what its name implies: it is an edit focused on the content, structure, style, and voice of a work. In a content edit, the editor will make marks on the page, removing certain words or phrases, suggesting others, as well as recommending structural changes—from the structure of sentence, to the overall structure of a chapter, argument, or narrative. The goal of the content edit is to ensure that the language, dialogue, pacing, plotting, and, importantly, voice of the book be as strong as possible.
HOW CAN MY MANUSCRIPT BENEFIT FROM A MANUSCRIPT CRITIQUE?
In a manuscript critique—as opposed to a developmental edit—the editor is not making any marks on the page itself. Rather, she is reading through the manuscript, looking out for underdeveloped characters, plot holes, temporal inconsistencies, flat dialogue, or any other areas she thinks can be strengthened. The editor relays her thoughts and detailed advice on how the author can address the problem areas in a several page editorial memo. A manuscript critique will help you isolate the areas in which your manuscript is not working as well as it should be as well as give you detailed advice on how to rethink and address those problem areas.
WHAT IS RIGHT FOR ME: A DEVELOPMENTAL EDIT OR A MANUSCRIPT CRITIQUE?
There is no simple answer to this question, and it will most likely depend both on where you are as an author and how close to “completed” your manuscript is. If you have just completed your first book-length manuscript ever, you would probably benefit most from a manuscript critique. There are quite a lot of mistakes that first time authors make—verb tense agreement, character, plot, and timeline inconsistencies, for example—and having a thorough, professional reading of your manuscript might be more immediately beneficial to you than a line-by-line edit. If, however, you are an experienced author, or are confidant that your writing in already in a pretty polished or professional state, then you would probably benefit most from a developmental or content edit.
WHAT IS COPYEDITING?
Copyediting is the work that a trained editor—a copyeditor—does to improve the formatting, style, grammar, and accuracy of a book. Unlike a content edit or a manuscript critique, a copyedit might not involve any change to the content of the book.
WHAT IS PROOFREADING?
Proofreading is the final stage in the editing process. It might be helpful to think of a proofreading as a light copyedit. Here, the editor makes one last, thorough scan of the manuscript to make sure that no typos, punctuation or formatting errors, or grammatical mistakes are present in the manuscript.
DOES A CONTENT OR DEVELOPMENTAL EDIT INCLUDE A COPYEDIT?
Not exactly. While performing a content or developmental edit, an editor will make as many corrections as she can. However, as she is primarily focused on questions of pacing, plotting, voice, and language, it is likely that some grammatical, spelling, and punctuation errors will slip through the cracks. When a copyeditor edits a manuscript, she is reading exclusively for grammar, punctuation, spelling, etc., so her work ensures a clean, finished manuscript.
For authors considering self-publishing, having your manuscript copyedited before publication is strongly encouraged, as it ensures that the book that will bear your name into the world will be as polished and professional as anything being published by traditional publishing houses.