There are different types of Editing
Did you know? Editing is a highly specialised skill.
Different types of editing are done at different stages of the writing process.
Which is right for you, just now?
Hello. I’m Ruth, an editor and book coach.
I am happy to review a sample of a few pages to advise you, without charge, on your best choice of edit at this particular stage of your writing.
Click here to apply.
📌 Book coaching is support given to a writer while they are building their book idea.
📌 Developmental editing, or manuscript assessment, is done once the first draft is written.
📌 Copyediting is done once the writer feels they have written all they can. A copyedit picks up errors and inconsistencies, and improves the readability of the work.
Pinpoint where your work stands:
Book coaching is for when you need to get your book out of your head and onto the page.
Maybe you have tried several times already and never make progress.
Maybe you prefer not to waste time but to seek the input of a book expert who can:
🟢 show you how to shape your book
🟢 how to express the fundamental point of what you need to say
🟢 how to assess the marketability of the book and
🟢 help you determine who will read it.
With a book coach you can write a professional and incisive proposal to give you the best chance of attracting a publisher or agent by making a sound business case for your book.
It is notoriously difficult to publish the traditional way, however, and a book coach can, equally, help you navigate the pitfalls of self-publishing.
You will know you need a developmental edit (or a manuscript assessment, or a Book Audit) if you are wondering if your book is good enough to publish.
Maybe, your book has been rejected by agents or publishers or maybe you are publishing independently (self-publishing) and want to be sure you’re putting something good out into the world.
A developmental edit helps you to develop your work into a publishable book (fiction, nonfiction or memoir) or a submittable book proposal (non fiction).
It looks at the big picture, at the structure, point and purpose, narrative drive and flow, and internal logic of your work.
I show you how to take stock of your position, by shining a light on the issues likely being picked up by readers of your work and how you could fix them to increase your book’s appeal to readers.
You get meaningful input from me, a professional trained to know what the book industry expects, so that you write a marketable book.
A copyedit is for when you are feeling confident that your manuscript (book proposal, or nonfiction work, or fiction) is pretty much the best you can make it. There is nothing else you want to write.
Now you want a professional’s input on the actual language you have used to write the book. (You may hear the term line edit being used. It doesn’t matter what the edit is called as long as you are clear how your editor will help you.)
You have a niggling doubt, as all writers who are honest with themselves do, that you might not have expressed yourself as clearly as you’d wish, or have misspelt or misused some words, or that your lack of understanding of punctuating dialogue or using commas has tripped you up. Or that you have just overlooked some errors. We all do.
You want the things that are grammatically wrong to be put right. You want the grammar, spelling, and punctuation to be correct, line-by-line.
You want to submit a polished book proposal to your publishers or agents, or if you are publishing independently, a book that is as near to perfect, line-by-line, as a human can make it.
When should you seek an edit?
Whenever you are putting your work out into the world.
If you intend to publish your book yourself, you should have a professionally trained editor copyedit your manuscript.
Publishers usually provide a copyediting service in-house but you may want to get your query letter, proposal, or sample chapters edited.
I should mention, proofreading is the very last stage of editing before publication, when the manuscript has been formatted and set for ebook or print production.
What I edit
I coach and edit for US and UK readerships.
Writers in the UK hire me to make sure their book is written appropriately for the US market, and writers in the US, ditto, for the UK.
As well as books, I edit articles, short stories and “reader magnets”.
I am a member of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading and of the Editorial Freelancers’ Association and certified in book coaching (nonfiction and fiction) by Author Accelerator.
