Book Editing Services
Publish and Promote offers three levels of editing depending on your manuscript and preferences: developmental, copyediting, and proofreading.
Not sure what type of book editing service you need? Send us a sample here, and we will evaluate it for free.
Developmental editing is a phase in the book publishing process where editors work with authors to resolve “big picture” issues in their manuscripts, including structure, form, plot, and character. Because of its focus on wider story elements, this type of editing normally won’t address sentence-level errors such as punctuation and grammar typos.
Good developmental editing will keep your target audience in mind and assess your work concerning industry standards and expectations. Only once your manuscript has been revised, reshaped, and developed will it be ready for a copy edit and proofreading.
Copy editing focuses on the technical aspects of your manuscript, guaranteeing that your writing meets industry standards. A professional copy editor keeps an eye on:
- Story elements consistency (plot, setting, characters, etc.)
- Spelling, grammar, and syntax errors
- Missing words
- Writing style consistency
- Vague and inaccurate statements
- Any mistakes you may have overlooked
Proofreading is the necessary last step in the editing process—and the final stop before publishing. While copy editing and line editing can make substantial changes (such as correcting inconsistent spelling or hyphenations) to the manuscript’s language, a proofreader’s role is more about quality assurance. Proofreading is not the time to revise, rewrite, and delete.
A professional proofreader brings a fresh set of eyes to your work and scours for absolute errors such as:
- Punctuation
- Misspellings
- Capitalization
- Verb tense
- Grammar issues