Availing a book editing service is the most valuable investment that you can make before getting your manuscript published. No matter how good you write, you can never be able to evaluate your manuscript like a third party, a reader and never like an editor. An editor has scrutinized several books to make their best versions! And knows what works, what not!
Some editors have defined ‘editing’ as an ‘intuitive knack’ that has been innate to them, as if born with an ‘editor-eye’ and give no credits whatsoever to their domain knowledge.
“That intimate connection between the author and his readers is – The Editor!”
Every author needs a bold editor that uses a lot of red ink, gives you upfront feedback and does not try to please you. He knows what works, what doesn’t. And take your manuscript where it is accepted worldwidely.
There are four main types of editing services that are provided to help your manuscript rise up from the ashes to become gold. Many claim to define more than these four editing services. But those are just reiterations and can definitely be covered under one or the other main service described below.
1) Developmental Editing
(Also called: conceptual editing or manuscript appraisal.) – Developmental Editing is the most premium editing service, where the ‘’big-picture”- of your plot, your characters and especially your story line, if you are writing a fiction, or the organization of lessons for your audience, if you are writing a non-fiction. Developmental editing comes at an initial phase where the writer is ready to rewrite the manuscript after the expert suggestions, feedbacks and critics of the editor to make the manuscript a masterpiece!
The novice writers are especially advised to take up developmental editing, as while working on your manuscript with an experienced editor, you learn a lot about writing. It is not a luxury but a prerequisite to become an Author.
2) Line editing
Similar to the copy editing, line editing is done after you and your editor are fully satisfied with the construction and organization of your content that is after developmental editing.
Here, the emphasis is on line-to-line editing to make the sentences flow like a song. You might have noticed in professional writings, the ending of a previous paragraph tells a subtle tale about the paragraph that is about to come next. If it is abrupt, as if thrown on the reader out of nowhere, we call it odd.
Many such oddities are removed from your manuscripts in line editing to make each sentence a better version of itself.
3) Copy Editing
Whereas in Copy Editing, the editor zoom-in to your manuscript moving word to word, looking for spell-checks, punctuation errors, syntax used, tense form, inconsistencies, odd word or line spacing and minute grammar rules that 70% native English speakers are unaware of. Here comes to rescue the precision tool – the “editor’s eye”, that actually sculpt your manuscript into a ‘professional book’ setting your level way high to amateurs.
Often the novice writers ask me that this type of mechanical editing is even provided in MS WORD, ‘Grammarly’ and other tools, then why can’t we edit our own book using these editing tools, that too free of cost? Why to hire an editor anyway?
Well, a copy-editor is not that mechanical so that you can replace him with a robot. There is so much more to copy-editing than the edits provided by these tools. They altogether skip the part where even a little information processing is required.
A copy-editor even rewrites certain word flow if necessary, he might also suggest if a word fits into the context, or if the “factual” data is correct or not.
For example, there is a good chance that you might skip some geographical facts about the fictional cities you are describing, or some of it’s indigenous details might be described incorrectly. Here the copy editor comes at your rescue.
Editing tools are indeed helpful, and are designed to make your writing experience better. Most writers use these tools as a medium to write their manuscript.
Finally after copy-editing, a proofreader checks your manuscript on the surface level, surfing for any typos before giving a final pass for publishing.
4) Proofreading
This is the final stage of the book editing process, and is done as a last recheck scrutinized by the editor, just prior to getting your book published. This is the surface level correction of misspells, grammatical or punctuation errors that might have skipped in the previous editing processes.
Imagine getting 2000 copies printed with the name, “The Sage of Armed-Love”, instead of “The Saga of Armed Love”.
Make sure your manuscript is thoroughly edited before you opt for proofread. Nowadays editors provide proofreading as complementary with premium editing services like developmental editing, line-editing or at times even copy-editing.
The Book Editing Processes
These services might appear as unrelated or downright different to one and another. But they are part of one loop of process, that is- “Book Editing”.
First, the Developmental Editor gets into your story to find that “big-picture” narrative. No need to start any other editing, as, most probably many scenes, and sometimes the entire book is written again to bring it back to life.
Once, the writer and his developmental editor are satisfied with the story line or the “holistic picture” that they want to convey to their audience, line-editing comes into play.
Where every paragraph is made to follow a rhythmic sequence, every sentence is made sharper, crisper and better, and usage of every word is scrutinized, suggesting better and more relevant version- all of these using rules of the English language. Then, the mechanical editing or copy-editing comes into picture. It is basically correcting the manuscript in terms of rules of the language including spell checks, grammar, punctuation errors, syntax etc.
Make sure you thoroughly go through the list of services provided in the package by an Editor or the company. And choose the best deal for your manuscript!
Also do not forget to compare the pricing amongst various editing companies. Intensive research might save you thousand bucks!
For any query regarding editing or writing we are just one text away. Go on, ping us! We’ll be happy to help!
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