Different Types of Editing

Our hybrid publishing package includes the editorial services of a copy edit, final editing, and proofreading of the manuscript, while some manuscripts are recommended for developmental editing first. Here we define what each type of edit entails:

🖊 Developmental Editing: For manuscripts that are promising, but need significant revision to strengthen the content, such as fixing plot holes or further developing characters. (If Rootstock deems this a necessary step, we will talk ahead of time, most likely prior to signing the contract, since developmental editing is a separate fee and process.) 

Goal: To improve, enhance, clarify, develop, and deepen content. 

This role usually involves a lot of back and forth between the author and the developmental editor to revise and improve content. This task requires a great deal of time and is more of a hands-on, collaborative process between author and editor. Developmental editing is also a larger cost investment. It often involves the following: 

• Getting to know and support the author’s voice, tone, and purpose. 

• Establishing a high level of collaboration and trust with the author. 

• Reorganizing parts of a document (cutting and pasting). 

• Asking the author to add/write new parts and develop ideas more fully (or, if the relationship is more of a ghostwriting level of support, the developmental editor may add/write some parts. This should be negotiated with the author.)

• Asking author to clarify confusing parts. 

• Cutting sections or parts. 

• Heavy line editing to improve fluency and flow. 

• Word choice suggestions. 

• Rearranging sentences for clarity, fluency, and syntax. 

• Addressing grammar issues. 

• Punctuation as artistic tool to support meaning. 

• Eliminating repetition. 

• Improving consistency and timelines. 

• Fact checking, 

• Attributing source material: being sure there are accurate signal phrases, source name spellings (titles and people), and citations/endnotes, if necessary, 

• Strengthening elements such as evidence and logic; or, if fiction, strengthening characters, point of view, plot, setting, themes, etc. If poetry, strengthening poetic elements. 

• Suggestions to address terminology or bias (often implied unintentionally) regarding sensitivity to social and/or environmental justice, 

• Suggestions/queries regarding treatment of material and persons in the manuscript to minimize potential of libel, invasion of privacy, etc. 

Note: Developmental editors may also, in the course of the work, address the tasks of copy editing as listed below. However, this does not replace the need for a copy editing stage/copy editor after the developmental edit is complete. 

🖊 Copy/Line Editing: For manuscripts that have reached a well-developed stage, and thus do not need developmental editing or heavy line editing to substantially improve content. 

Goal: To tighten prose ad ready for book layout into a PDF.

Copy editing/line editing changes should almost always be flagged for query with the author, and also should be highly sensitive to the author’s voice and tone. Copy editors are alert to potential changes in meaning, with the goal of clarifying, enhancing, and supporting the author’s intended meaning. This stage of editing takes a medium amount of time, generally. Medium cost investment. It often involves the following: 

• Fluency and flow of grammar/syntax for readability. 

• Word choice accuracy and/or improvements. 

• Repetition of words, phrases, or ideas. 

• Cutting of unnecessary, extraneous words, phrases, etc., to tighten the lines.

• Clarity of ideas. 

• Consistency of terms, word choice. 

• Compound words: two words vs. single or hyphenated words. 

• Punctuation for clarity/meaning. 

• Appropriate italics, boldface, etc. 

• Quotation marks (making sure they are all there where they need to be and are formatted as “smart” quotes, not “straight” quotes). 

• Grammar issues. 

• Capitalization. 

• Spelling. 

• Page numbering and chapter numbering/titles. 

• Fact checking. 

• Checking accuracy of quotes, sources, book titles, author names, endnotes, etc. 

• Adhering to publisher’s style guide (Rootstock uses the Chicago Manual of Style).

🖊 Proofreading: For high-quality manuscripts that have had effective development and have already been copyedited. The last step before publication, often done at the ARC (Advance Reader Copy) stage. 

Goal: to simply look for errors, either layout and spacing errors or typos that were missed in copy editing. 

Any suggestions that may change meaning should be addressed to the author and/or editor. This should be a fairly quick, fairly hands-off process and involves the following basic corrections: 

• Misspelled words. 

• Missing words or extra words. 

• Word choice errors. 

• Grammar or syntax errors (should be queried, as fixes have potential to change meaning). 

• Spacing issues: extra spacing or missing spaces. 

• Missing punctuation. 

• Punctuation “errors” (important to query author and/or editor, as certain usage may be for style, voice, tone, or meaning). 

• Capitalization errors. 

• Errors in consistency of terminology, people’s names, title names, etc. 

• Formatting issues (indents, line spacing, etc.) 

• Possibly addressing proper style for quotation marks, em dashes, and ellipses (but check with editor to see if editor already formatted these).

Rootstock will address with you during the acceptance phase what kind of editing your manuscript needs before being produced into a beautiful book!