A Quick Guide to Developmental Editing, Proofreading, and Copy Editing

A few months into 2020, it’s worth a nostalgic glance back at how the publishing industry has changed in the past decade.

Just ten years ago, Penguin and Random House hadn’t yet merged, ProWritingAid wasn’t yet on hand to rescue all of our careless typos, publishing was limited to a lucky few authors, and editors were mythical beings who were locked within traditional publishing houses — beyond reach and sight.

We’ve come a long way since then, and authors have become increasingly entrepreneurial, putting together their own publishing teams for their self-published titles. But just because authors now have direct access to professional editors doesn’t mean it’s easy to know where to look, who to hire, or what to ask for.

This post will break down the three major steps of the editing process to help you discern what type of editing your book needs.

Developmental Editing

A developmental edit is the first stage of the editing process. As such, it will be the broadest edit of your manuscript. Depending on the book’s strengths and weaknesses, it will cover and identify all of the “big-picture” problems underlying your story, including:

• Pacing concerns