Developmental editing addresses more
radically the content of the work, the way material should be
presented, the need for more or less documentation and how it
should be handled, and so on. Since editing of this kind may
involve total rewriting or reorganization of the work, it should
be done—if needed—before manuscript editing begins.
Developmental editing also consist
of
rearranging text to ensure a flow in a way that makes sense and
is logical, so the content is congruent instead of randomly
thrown together.
Developmental editing may also include consultation before the
writing begins. The developmental editor may help plan the
organization, features, and other aspects of the work, and
prepare developmental reviews or analyses. Duties often include:
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Suggesting formats to communicate the message.
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Rewriting and restructuring the text to fit the
format.
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Moving entire paragraphs and sentences to improve
flow.
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Ensuring consistent structure by adding or
deleting headings.
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Identifying gaps in content, and supplying or
describing the needed copy, so the author can resolve issue.
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Deleting content that is outdated or that does
not achieve the desired marketing focus or tone.
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Developing an effective system for handling
trademarks and notes.
Developmental editing may also involve altering the content to
meet the recommendations of reviewers and determining the style
and general content of the illustrations and/or diagrams.
Developmental editing is
similar to ghostwriting, except the author provides a rough
draft of the manuscript. Whereas with ghostwriting, we develop
and write the manuscript from A to Z, using the author's notes
and conducting necessary research.
The rate for developmental
editing $8.50 per page.
To request a sample
developmental edit, please
contact
us.
* * * * *
Copyediting
Copyediting, also known as mechanical editing, involves:
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Correcting mechanical, spelling, punctuation,
grammar, and usage errors.
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Checking for proper alignment and spacing of
text. Mark inconsistencies.
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Marking inconsistencies and
ask author to consistently format dates, headlines, numbers,
and alphabetized, bulleted, and numbered lists. We offer
book formatting as a separate service.
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Noting awkward transitions, redundancies, and
hyperbole.
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Noting any biased language or stereotyping.
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Noting any places where the point of view shifts
without clear sense of who is telling the story.
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Marking improper formatting of dialog and check
balance of dialog vs. action/exposition/internal thought.
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Making the author aware of places where he or she
is "telling" rather than showing what the character is
thinking.
The copyeditor may query the author to clarify sections, ask him or her
to rewrite some sections, or to get permission to make other
improvements (such as moving a chapter or segment to a better
location in the manuscript). We do not rewrite for you at this
level of edit. We will proofread the entire document one time
once the author has accepted or rejected all changes and sent us
a near-perfect document.
The fee for
copyediting is as follows:
The rate for copyediting $4.50 per page.
To request a sample for copyedit, please
contact
us.
* * * * *
Proofreading
Proofreading is the
the process of carefully reviewing a text for errors, especially
surface errors such as spelling, punctuation, grammar,
formatting, and typing errors. Proofreading occurs later in the
writing process, usually just after the final editing and before
the final draft that will be presented for publication. This
focus is on correcting errors in spelling, syntax, grammar,
punctuation, and formatting.
While some editing
will inevitably be done during the proofreading
process and visa versa—the writing process is
not perfectly linear, after all—focusing on
proofreading too early in the writing process is
often inefficient because with each revision new
errors are introduced. In other words, one does
not want to spend a lot of time correcting
sentences and paragraphs that may soon be
rewritten or even deleted completely.
The rate for
proofreading is $2.50 per page.
To request a
sample for proofreading, please
contact us.
