Most writers don’t tend to concern themselves with too much i-dotting and t-crossing. At the end of the day, your role is to turn your ideas into something tangible and that can make it very difficult for an author to see if their logic has any gaping holes or if your book has any other problems that could turn readers away. It is for this reason that every writer must have an editor. A professional editor will check everything – spelling, punctuation, grammar, technicalities and offer advice that comes from an audience’s perspective.

Editorial support comes in many forms and most authors will be looking for one of the two main service levels – substantive editing and copy editing.  Different editors will offer these services under different names but I’ll show you how you can compare what’s on offer between the services.

Copy Editing

Copy editing is all about paying close attention to the style of writing and grammar. Its focus is on producing a book that is ready to be published and, to achieve that, copy editors will carry out a line edit to check the following aspects:

Grammar

Spelling

Syntax

Punctuation

Typo errors

Unclear phrases or words

Choice of words

Style conventions – unless they tell you otherwise, editors tend to follow the latest Chicago Style rules.

Substantive Editing

Substantive editing is the chosen level of service for authors who need some guidance on their core concept, their characters, and plot, as well as line editing as above. This is the service that helps authors move to the next level, to make their book stick together better and hold the interest of their target audience without making too many changes to the voice the author writes in. An editor will give you advice on:

Plot and pace for a fictional book

Narrative coherence for non-fiction books

Core concepts for non-fiction books

Characters

Dialog

Title

Shifts in tone

Given that substantive editing is far more in-depth and has a wider scope than copy editing, this service requires much greater collaboration between the editor and author. It may also involve more than one editing round until everything is just right.

There are also companies that will provide an even more intensive level of editorial support in a service level known as developmental editing – you might also see this written as a literary review or as a manuscript critique. This kind of service tends to be used early in the life of the book but also proves useful in the latter stages. A development editor will go through the whole book or a very large part of it and will comment on certain aspects either in the margins of the manuscript or in a letter. This kind of service is designed to help an author in developing their book and likely won’t include line-edits.

Before we move onto ways to find the right editor, bear in mind that if you don’t have the budget for a professional editor, there is a large pool of beta readers that you can make use of. These people will read your book and critique it free of charge, giving you constructive feedback that can help you to improve.