What Type of Editing
Do I Need?

Proofreading

This is your basic read through and check for typos and actual mistakes. Errant uses of there/their/they’re, your/you’re, mistaken homophones, that sort of thing. If you’ve already had the book edited and you just need one final pass before publication, this is the way to go.

Line Editing

This sort of edit addresses things like, “You just used that sentence construction twice in a row. Vary your constructions so your readers/listeners don’t think you’re overly attached to this lone sentence type,” “You used a participle phrase (-ing word) to show sequential action, but participles are used almost exclusively for concurrent action. Rework the sentence so it’s clear these actions happened in sequence,” “This word choice conveys a different sort of tone/intent than you want here, try something like (this),” or maybe “You’re not being clear with your point of view here because you’re swapping narrative perspectives.” This is your most standard editing pass. If you want to bring your writing from the initial amateur stages to something that reads as polished and clear, I would heavily recommend getting a line edit.

Developmental Editing

This is the most in-depth type of editing we offer, and it can do absolute wonders for the storytelling. A developmental edit is where I jump into the actual storytelling and plot. Did you establish a plot point two chapters ago, and then in this chapter it seems like you completely forgot about it? Did you have a character act in a way that just isn’t consistent with how you’ve established them? Did you show that there were three characters in this scene, but two of them seemed to power off and become actionless automatons throughout the scene? A dev edit tackles those issues. In contrast to a line edit, not every author needs a developmental edit—some authors are really good at hitting story beats and writing a clear, coherent narrative throughout. What I generally recommend for people is to do a dev edit on your first book, so you can see if storytelling issues are something you need extra focus on or not. After that, you’ll know if you can get away without getting that type of edit, or if it’s something that you really need.