Description

What is developmental editing?

Developmental editing is a collaboration through the part of writing that’s best described in metaphor: the nitty-gritty, the messy middle, the trek through deep woods, the slog through the mire. It’s a state of mind, a dedicated space, an experience, an education. Writers get stuck here for years. It’s the stuff of nightmares, of writer’s block, of dark nights of the soul.

It’s our favorite part of the writing process.

If you’ve been trying to work out a story problem and have had it up to your eyeballs with isolation, come find us. Let’s put our heads together and find a way through.

Our Developmental Editing Process

We’ll start with a conversation about your goals and the project’s history. If you’ve had an editorial assessment with us, we’ll review your recommendations for development and talk about how your revisions have gone in the interim. We’ll revisit your book description and may revise it while we’re on the phone. By the end of the call, you’ll have your first three deadlines on the calendar and clear goals for your first submission.

For every deadline, you’ll send your editor around 20 pages, or 5,000 words, for editing. Your editor will critique those pages and return them five days later with annotations and a brief editorial letter providing feedback and recommendations for revision and research.

After every other deadline, you’ll have a 30-minute call with your editor to talk about your progress and process. After each deadline, you’ll have the next three deadlines scheduled.

Your editor may need more than the standard 5-day turnaround if the schedule changes unexpectedly, but there’s never a penalty for missing or rescheduling a deadline.

If you want a guide through the gnarly wild of rewriting, this is the one for you.

• 4, 8, or 12 scheduled deadlines for 5,000-word submissions
• Annotated pages and a brief editorial letter for each submission
• 30-minute phone/Zoom consultation with every submission

$250/deadline, 4-deadline minimum

Read More about Working with Editors

From ALLi (Alliance of Independent Authors): Do Novice Authors Really Need an Editor?
From Huffington Post: 7 Deadly Myths and 3 Inspired Truths about Book Editing
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
From Reedsy: Finding the Right Book Editor