If you’re looking for one-on-one guidance as you write and revise your work, collaborative editing is the way to go. With developmental editing and live line-editing sessions, we will teach you how to improve your writing, both style and substance. Read on for details.
Developmental Editing
What is developmental editing?
Developmental editing is a trek through the deep woods of a manuscript with someone who knows the way. Some writers get stuck here for years, but it’s our favorite part of the journey.
If you’re up to your eyeballs in a story problem, come find us. We’ll help you find the way out.
Our Developmental Editing service
Developmental editing looks different for each of our authors. Some writers need help staying accountable for sitting down to write, or for completing X number of pages per week. Others want feedback on new material or a fresh round of revisions. Some want to make sure their outline aligns with their objectives. Others are hoping for insight into aspects of fiction like character arc, theme, point of view, etc.
In our first conversation with you, we’ll ask you about your goals and your writing/revision process. If we’ve seen this book through critique, we’ll review our editorial notes with you and talk about how things have gone since then. If we haven’t read this manuscript before, we’ll find out what kind of guidance you’re looking for and what approach might work best for you.
We’ll decide together whether to exchange drafts for editing/critique, to check in regularly to keep you accountable, to schedule conversations about your progress and the way forward — or a combination of all of those. And we’ll figure out whether an hourly, project, or per-word rate makes the most sense.
If you want a guide through the gnarly wilds of revision, developmental editing is the service for you.
Line Editing
Line editing can be thought of as deep copyediting. Where copyediting aims to make a piece of writing clear, correct, and consistent, line editing goes deeper, improving the flow, rhythm, and style of the work. This is where the magic happens and your writing improves.
Our Live Line-Editing Sessions
Our live line-editing sessions explore what’s happening on the sentence level in your writing. What would happen if you broke the line here, rather than there? What is this word really getting at? Is imprecise language losing your readers? Did you mean to repeat this word throughout the story?
If you want to take a deep dive into the sound, flow, and sense of your writing, this is a great way to learn. You don’t need a complete draft or a plan for publication — in fact, it’s better if you don’t, because your focus will be on improving your writing across the board. All you need is a desire to understand how your words are working on the page.
Further reading
From My Two Cents Editing: We teach authors and editors how to line edit.
From Jane Friedman’s Blog: The Comprehensive Guide to Finding, Hiring, and Working with an Editor
From Kindlepreneur: Master Guide to Selecting the Best Book Editor
From MasterClass: How to Find the Best Book Editor: A Complete Guide