What's involved in editing your novel?
What a novel needs before being published
Whether you’re self-publishing your novel or trying to vault to the head of the slush pile, it’s generally true that commercial-quality books are supported by commercial-quality production. Hiring skilled, experienced pros is essential for your book’s key services: cover design and blurb/jacket copy, which promise readers commercial-quality value, and editing, which delivers that value in a compelling reading experience.
Types of editing
Developmental editing is the first priority for new and emerging writers. Also known as story editing or content editing, developmental editing helps fully develop and polish the story. It also cues you in on things you may not know yet about the way you've told the story, known as narrative (or storytelling) technique.
If you've never worked with a professional editor, you simply haven’t been exposed to the myriad reader expectations and best practices for story development at the commercial publishing level. I recommend developmental editing for all debut writers. In my experience, developmental editing is also particularly helpful for manuscripts over 80,000 words, literary and literary-leaning fiction, and stories with complex plots or structures.
If you hope to be traditionally published, developmental editing gives your storytelling the impact it needs to attract an agent’s notice. If you're self-publishing, developmental editing ensures that you're not launching your writing career with a lackluster story riddled with amateurish storytelling and newbie mistakes.
Substantive or line editing deals with the quality and flow of the writing. This is the sort of editing that makes the book read like a well-polished commercial work. If you’re hoping to be traditionally published, line editing makes your writing more competitive with the thousands of highly refined manuscripts jockeying to make it out of the slush pile. If you’re self-publishing, substantive editing is your opportunity to onboard narrative techniques and best practices you wouldn’t otherwise be exposed to.
Copyediting addresses grammar, spelling, punctuation, and usage as well as internal consistency and readability issues. If you’ll be traditionally published, your publisher handles copyediting for you—unless your manuscript needs copyediting to get in the door in the first place. So test yourself: Do you need copyediting before submission?
Proofreading is technically not a type of editing. Proofreading is performed on a book’s proofs (the fully formatted layouts of your book’s pages) to catch oversights and review late changes. The self-publishing community often uses “proofreading” to refer to a final editorial-level review on the manuscript, so make sure you and your editor are referring to the same conception of this process.
Why the way you publish matters
If you’re selling your book to a traditional publisher, your book has much more revision and editing ahead. That’s true even if you’ve pursued independent editing to get your foot in the door. Many, if not most, literary agents expect you to work with them on revisions once they’ve accepted you for representation, sometimes even before (in a so-called R&R, or revise and resubmit).
Once the book is sold to a publisher, the publisher makes or hires out some combination of developmental and substantive editing. They decide how much help and support the book will get and who will provide those services. (Most of these editors are specialists contracted from outside the publishing company—the same editors you could hire yourself.) The publisher also handles copyediting and proofreading. None of these editing costs come out of your pocket, and you're obliged to collaborate with all of them.
If you’re self-publishing your book, you’re now an entrepreneur producing a consumer product. That makes you the person responsible for overseeing your product’s quality (editing), production (design, formatting, and printing), and marketing, whether you grasp the ins and outs of those processes and have the budget for quality work or not. In a world of DIY authors, professional-caliber production—especially editing and cover design—can make or break your success.
Traditional publishers reliably produce quality books because they follow a time-tested editorial process that produces professional-caliber storytelling, writing, packaging, marketing, and overall quality control. Since readers can’t judge the quality of the story and writing until they’ve read it, they rely on the external factors to judge whether a book is likely to be worth their time and money: cover art, jacket copy, marketing.
When you self-publish, it’s up to you to decide where you want your book to fall on the spectrum of quality. Self-publishers frequently skip steps or DIY things to save money. But it’s hard to address the things you don’t even know that you don’t know about book production, especially pivotal elements like cover design and editing, and those unknowns can dampen or even kill your sales.
As its name implies, hybrid publishing offers a middle path. You’ll pay a package fee for professionally managed services for your book, alleviating the task of coordinating processes you may have no experience or interest in managing. Hybrid publishing is not synonymous with vanity (“pay to play”) publishing; see my Publishing Basics page for more on hybrid services.
The differences in who pays for what services in each of the publishing types make it important to work out your publishing goals sooner rather than later.
But editing is so expensive!
Could you or a smart friend do some or all of this editing yourself? Sure, you could. And most readers might not even notice.
But here’s the thing. The vast majority of the books you read today have been professionally edited at some level, probably more than once and on more than one level. By virtue of the editorial process, those writers have spent time and effort honing their craft.
Can your writing innately compete with that?
Only copyediting and proofreading are about “fixing mistakes.” Developmental and line editing accelerate your development as a writer, a craftsman, and an artist. These levels of editing involve revisions, rewrites, and lots of back and forth with the editor. You’ll learn something different from every manuscript, and you’ll be way ahead of writers who’ve skipped everything but copyediting and proofreading.
Editing is a collaboration. It’s like having a personal trainer for your writing. It unlocks new techniques and opens new doors based on your current level of skill. You’ll be exploring more potent methods of expressing your creative intentions on the page and developing skills you’ll use for the rest of your writing career.
I’m astounded at the number of writers who don’t give their writing the same respect they give any of their other passions in life. A spouse’s triathlons, a child’s hockey or piano lessons, a passion for knitting and spinning—all these endeavors require a certain level of investment to achieve a satisfying, rewarding experience. If these things seem worth investing in to you, shouldn’t your writing be worthy of comparable support?
💭 Ask yourself: What’s your writing worth to you?
Even a little editing is better than none. A seasoned editor knows how to help you prioritize your next steps based on your writing and your budgetary goals. There’s no reason to categorically skip help that you assume you don't have time or money for. Don’t let internet articles and social media posts scare you away from finding affordable help.
Many editors and coaches offer reviews, critiques, consultations, and coaching services at different price points to give you a leg up based on your editing budget. Find an editor you want to work with and open a one-on-one conversation about your book. A good editor will help you find a way to get as much help as your budget allows, including directing you to self-directed resources, DIY tools and education, or referrals to lower-priced colleagues or services.
Next Steps: Traditional publishing
Especially if this is your first manuscript or your first serious attempt at being traditionally published, developmental editing serves as your introduction to the level of expectations in traditional publishing today. Expect a learning curve.
While some writers may be ready to query their manuscripts after a single round of developmental editing, most new writers will not be submission-ready that quickly. In my experience, most manuscripts need a rewrite. They may need more revision, peer critique or workshopping, additional rounds of editing or editorial review, or coaching. Truth be told, many first manuscripts turn out to best serve their authors as practice projects.
Once the story is solid enough to merit attention, if you want your writing to stand out, you’ll want substantive/line editing. Working with an editor at this level will expose you to the conventions of fiction writing and best practices that will put you ahead of the pack. It’s important to choose an editor experienced and qualified to edit fiction; neither an English degree nor a lifelong love of reading confer knowledge of commercial publishing conventions.
Should you get professional editing before querying agents? See what agents and professional editors have to say.
Next Steps: Self-publishing
If you plan to self-publish, you’re responsible for your book’s editorial quality. The ideal solution is the same series of developmental editing, line/substantive editing, copyediting, and proofreading that’s traditionally performed by publishers.
This number of editing steps can come as a rude surprise, especially if you’d hoped to self-publish on a shoestring budget. Think about it: If you’re self-publishing, that makes you a publishing company. These steps are part and parcel of professional-quality publishing. They've been proven over time to produce a quality product.
The reality is that not every self-publisher can manage all these steps, and not every author needs every step as they gain experience. But the decisions you make now as you launch your writing career will set the course of your reputation as an author. Controlling the quality of your writing and your book is in your hands.
The very reasonable desire to save money often leads to ill-conceived expenditures. Choosing an inexpensive editor opens you to self-taught practitioners lacking training or experience. These people are completely unaware of the things they don’t know about editing, and they can do actual harm to your book. Please, please steer clear.
Unconventional service combinations are frequently problematic. Consider, for example, the so-called line/copy edit, which supposedly combines a service designed to prompt further author revision and polishing (line editing) with another service designed to finalize the copy (copyediting). How could an editor finalize copy that they're simultaneously suggesting that you revise?
Another example: "Proofreading" done in conjunction with copyediting isn't actually proofreading at all. Proofreading is designed to find final errors in a formatted book layout, not in a working manuscript. Someone’s “copyedit/proofread” could be just the thing your book needs, but ascertain with your particular editor exactly what their service entails.
🚩 Red flag: Don’t pay an editor for this
Question hybrid services like these, which are more effective at separating writers from their money than creating better books. And remember that a bargain edit that introduces errors and leaves embarrassing gaffes is no bargain.
What does your book need?
How can you tell what kind of editing your book needs? No writer is objectively able to spot the issues in their own work. Your sensibilities will sharpen as you gain experience and get multiple books under your belt. Until then, please don’t attempt to self-diagnose the type of editing your book needs.
Beware, too, of ordering editing from any standard menu or package of services. Your book deserves individualized attention. The considerations for first-time writers are quite different from those for a seasoned series author or even a second-timer.
Be ready to discuss your publishing goals, your editing goals, and the amount of time, effort, revision, rewriting, and editing you’re willing to put into the process. An editor will want to look at your entire manuscript to identify how you’ve handled various dynamics throughout the book.
They may or may not do a sample edit. Samples are a smart idea for copyediting and proofreading work, but they don’t reasonably illustrate the scope of work done during a developmental edit. For that, you’re better off basing your decision on your communication with them, their initial feedback and impressions of your work, and client feedback or references.
✅ Here’s what I do with potential clients.
To leap past generalities and help me get a feel for your book, I ask a lot of questions about the story and your writing. I want to identify any obvious issues holding your book back that might suggest a need for more revision or steering you to a consultation or coaching instead of editing. Embarking on work without that clarity would most likely lead to spinning our wheels.
As part of the process, I’ll take a peek at your manuscript—however much you have, whether it's in progress or fully polished—to explore what's on the page so far. There's no reason to be concerned about sending your entire manuscript to a professional editor. Not sharing would be like visiting the doctor for stomach pain but refusing to show them anything but the backs of your hands.
At that point, I can prepare an assessment and proposal that includes some initial feedback, to give you a feel for what working with me would be like and whether we're on the same creative wavelength. The proposal includes my ideal recommendations for you but also presents a number of other options, including a DIY plan that has helped many new writers level up early efforts that weren’t ready for editing.
The most important thing is whether you trust the editor’s initial feedback, their business conduct inspires confidence, and you feel like this creative partnership is compatible with your vision for your book. If any of these elements feel off, keep searching until you find an editor you feel that comfortable click with.
Do you have any questions for me about editing or coaching? Use the button below to share your thoughts.
Read more about editing your novel:
The Writer’s Guide to Finding and Hiring an Editor
Book Coaching vs. Editing: What’s the difference?
Do you need peer feedback, reader feedback, or editing?
Best practices for working with an independent editor
