Two of my writing axioms are “every writer needs an editor” and “every editor needs an editor.”

The meaning of the first axiom is obvious, the second one less so. I mean that editors make mistakes, too. One mistake they may make is not to be on the same page (pun intended) as the writer they’re working with. That is, editors and writers may disagree about the extent of the changes the editor makes.

To be on the same page we need to know exactly what “editing” means. There are many types of editing, and not everyone agrees on how many there are. Indeed, if you ask five editors what the types are, you’ll probably get six different answers. I ran a search and found websites that said there are three, four, and five types of editing.

Not only that, but everyone’s definitions differ. For example, what one editor calls substantive editing another editor may call copyediting. And although one editor places punctuation, for example, under the copyediting category, another may place punctuation under proofreading.

For our purposes in this article, there are three types of editing, starting with copyediting.

When many people think of editing, they’re thinking about copyediting (or copy editing, either spelling is acceptable). It refers to checking grammar, spelling, punctuation, and other mechanical matters. Although some editors say proofreading is technically a separate process, it is similar to copyediting. In this article, copyediting and proofreading are the same. (This type of editing is also sometimes called line editing.)

Copyeditors’ duties include:

     Correcting typos

     Catching grammatical errors

     Finding spelling mistakes

     Fixing punctuation problems

     Changing incorrect capitalization

     Removing subject/verb disagreements

They also find other issues, such as formatting inconsistencies. For example, a book I edited used this format for the first chapter title:

Chapter One

Root Causes of World War II

That was fine, but later a chapter title used this format:

Chapter Four: Major Battles of World War II

That’s also fine, but the formats of the chapter titles aren’t consistent. So, if someone was working on Chapter Four’s title, would he or she check if Chapter One’s title is formatted the same? A good copyeditor would.

Copyeditors kill unnecessary words and replace weak verbs with stronger ones. They also check for proper word use. A book I edited contained a sentence that spoke of “shear strength of character.” What’s wrong? The writer used the wrong adjective. It should be “sheer.”

Copyeditors understand the rules of grammar and have an eye for detail. For example, they know which of these is correct, and why:

     Five-year-old child

     Five year old child

     Five-year old child

Copyeditors also know that jargon and clichés are “a dime a dozen” and substitute more effective phrases.

Copyediting, then, is critical to a story being consistent, clear, correct, concise, and complete. But copyediting our own work is difficult. We become too familiar with it and may miss errors that a good editor will catch instantly. That’s why we need a copyeditor.

The second type of editing is fact-checking.

Most likely you’re on this website because you’ve already done some writing and want to improve it. So I’m going to assume you know how critically important it is that every fact be correct. For example, you would be as appalled as I was when I read in a newspaper in 2016 that the USA was “celebrating its 140th birthday.” The writer was off by 100 years. Arguably, nothing will cause you to lose credibility, and readers, faster than incorrect information.

There are two types of fact-checking; I call them internal and external.

Internal refers to the same fact appearing twice or more in the same story. Every first name, last name, time, place, age, day, date, street name, and other proper nouns must be consistent with all other occurrences.

An external fact refers to information outside the story, as in the earlier example regarding how long ago the United States was founded. Statistics and facts must be accurate, proper nouns and names must be spelled correctly, and any links must open on the correct web page. Even if you're “sure” that you have a fact correct, you might be mistaken. For example, everyone knows that the two-letter postal abbreviation for the state of Alaska is AL, right? Nope. AL is for Alabama; Alaska is AK.

Even fiction writers need accurate external facts. If your novel is set in 1978, you can’t have a character say, “I saw this story on CNN today,” because the Cable News Network wasn’t launched until 1980.

Ideally, you won’t have to ask an editor to fact-check your story; you’ll have done it yourself. You can then save time and money by telling your editor he or she can skip this type of editing.

The final type of editing is substantive editing.

This type of editing, which is sometimes called structural editing, is more like rewriting. It addresses organization and consistency. Sentences may be added or killed. Text may be moved. Additional research may have to be done. Substantive editing may be more difficult and time-consuming than writing from scratch.

Substantive editing is a big deal. It takes a lot of time and therefore costs a lot of money. If you’re a writer you probably shouldn’t be asking anyone to substantive edit your work. Just like in fact-checking, you should do this work yourself.

If you can sincerely tell your editor that you’ve thoroughly fact-checked your story and that you’re satisfied with the content of your work—that is, that substantive editing isn’t needed—then you can let him or her do the proofreading/copyediting/line editing. You’ll save time and money. But by sure your editor knows you only want her to copyedit. Be on the same page.