A prospective client asked how on earth she could tell which of our editing services was right for her. There are so many kinds! she said. And she’s right: there are as many kinds of editing as there are writers.  To make things even more confusing, every writer also needs different sorts of editing at different stages of their project.  Also, different kinds of editing are more helpful at different phases of your writing career.

Manuscript Assessment
A manuscript assessment isn’t an edit, exactly. It’s a strategic review.  I read your manuscript from a mile-high perspective, looking at your story terrain all laid out as though in a satellite photograph.  From this distance, I can trace the silvery threads of story and offer suggestions about how to tie them together–or tease them apart, or set them in opposition for effect. I discuss ways to sharpen character or vary pacing. I show you how to move an event here and delay a realization there in order to firm up your narrative arc. I give you a clear-eyed, objective analysis of where the novel is or isn’t working and strategic suggestions for tightening up the saggy bits.

I don’t edit your text directly. I write an assessment letter addressing key areas that need attention, using specific examples from your text. In certain circumstances, I’ll offer a page-by-page, reader’s eye view of the reading experience, a moment-by-moment discussion of how one reader felt at every stage and, most importantly, why. (I really enjoy doing this, but it’s not appropriate for every manuscript.)

If you’re an emerging writer with a draft you threw down in a white-hot word passion, but which now you think looks like irredeemable chaos, manuscript assessment might be just the thing.  It’s a cost-effective way to get strategies to approach your revision. These are not distant, not theoretical; they are immediate, practical, and tailored to your skill, your style, and your story.  I read your draft and say, Hey, you’re wrong: this isn’t chaotic. See this thread here? And that one there? They’re connected. And, look, here’s how you can tweak your metaphor system to match your character’s dark night of the soul, here on p.185. Wow, look, there’s a novel in here! (I love doing this.)

Manuscript assessment is also very useful for an experienced novelist who has written something quite unexpected, or who finds that the story keeps trying to take a head-scratching direction. I give you a professional pair of eyes at a level that doesn’t interfere with your text or intrude on your writing style. Ha, this isn’t a philosophical thriller! Look at your protagonist and the issues he’s wrestling with. This is a YA gothic! Throw this out, this and this, connect these dots and tweak the setting. (I love doing this too.)

Developmental Edit
A developmental edit is the right step when you have revised, reworked, and taken your manuscript as far as you can by yourself. It’s a full-bore comprehensive edit, so detailed it often doubles as a learning tool. You’ll find a lot in a developmental edit to help you strengthen your current writing skills as well as strengthen the novel itself.  A developmental edit is also very useful for more experienced writers who have stretch goals for a particular project (changing genres, moving upmarket, finding a new agent, etc.).

We both enjoy getting right down into the details of a text, but Kelley is particularly good at it. Her edits address structure, pacing, plot, character development, thematic development, dialogue, narrative grammar, description, prose style and general prose habits (good and bad). She line edits and heavily comments the text to illustrate points, show alternatives, and weed out prose problems.  She also notes the strong moments so that you have anchor points to build upon.

Developmental edits are the ones we discuss most over lunchtime cups of tea, passing pages back and forth and figuring out the best way to help each writer (and you’re all so different!) make your manuscript the best it can be–based on the story you want to tell and your own style.

If you’re considering a developmental edit, do ask for a free sample edit first. Developmental edits go deep, and that can sometimes be a shock for emerging writers who haven’t experiences this kind of deep editorial feedback. Also, we want you to feel confident that our style and approach is a fit for you. A sample edit will give you good idea of what to expect.

Line edit
A line edit takes a professional-level manuscript to the finish line. It’s the polish you should put on the manuscript before sending it to agents or editors.  It’s also a service we provide to publishers for books under contract.

We streamline your prose and grammar. We focus on paragraph and sentence structure, word choice, dialogue, and consistency of tone. The line edit also include basic copyediting, attention to grammar, punctuation, formatting and consistency in names, dates and plot elements.

Book doctor
This is a specialized service.  We offer it to publishers for acquired manuscripts that need fast editing work, and occasionally to experts in other fields who are using a book to build their public brand or launch a multimedia platform. Book doctoring is a loaded term for some people, but at the professional level it’s no different from the A-list script doctors in Hollywood who zero in on problems, fix them in ways that don’t damage the integrity of the story–and do it fast.

Once or twice we have had inquiries from beginners who want to launch professional writing careers by having us “book doctor” their work, by which they mean rewrite it for them. No.  We don’t do this. We work at this level only with publishers, or with specific professional experts for whom a book is part of a larger project rather than an end in itself.

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Kelley and I love to help bring a piece of fiction or creative non-fiction to its peak. (We edit business and technical writing, too–but I’ll save that discussion for another post.) But every single writer and every single manuscript is different. So if you still have questions, we’re happy to answer them, here in the comments or by email. Ask away!

Posted by: Nicola