Content/Developmental Editing
[for unedited works]

Focuses on story clarity, logic, point of view, consistency, and plot structure. Helps to identify incorrectly used analogies, similes, and metaphors, and ineffective examples. It notes instances where the writer digresses or strays from the plot. Overall, the manuscript will be analyzed to assess the target audience, purpose and readability of the work. This area additionally helps the writer with reworking ideas that are unclear or poorly executed. This is the first stage and where rewriting certain portions of the work might be necessary.

There are a few questions about the clarity of your writing that can be answered by a thorough content edit:

Are the facts, plot details, and character traits consistent throughout the text?
Are readers lead to the appropriate conclusions?
Are ideas and anecdotes appropriate for the context?
Are your explanations clear and unambiguous?
Does the writing flow cleanly from one idea to the next?

What Does Not Come with Content Editing:

Does not include rewrite of author's work.
Does not provide comprehensive fact-check.
Does not correct mechanical aspects of the text until the material has been resubmitted for the heavy copy editing stage of service.

OVERALL SUMMARY OF CONTENT EDITING: Content editors focus on the big picture. We look at how characters and plot intertwine, we look at the theme of the book, the level of suspense and tension, the writing, dialogue, etc. This type of editing takes a very creative and artistic mind. It requires an ability to see past the book's shortcomings, and see its potential. We must be able to communicate to the author, based on their unique voice, how best to rewrite scenes if necessary.

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Copy editing
[recommended for manuscripts that have already been content edited]

Provides line by line editing. Focuses on grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, voice, consistency, word choice, spelling, style, clarity, and so forth.

OVERALL SUMMARY OF COPY EDITING: Copy editors perform a similar function to proofreaders but in far more detail. We typically don't examine the big picture but are more concerned that the style, grammar, punctuation, spelling, and overall mechanics of the piece are all correct and consistent.

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Proofreading
[recommended for manuscripts thoroughly content and copy edited and already in layout format]

This is where details that may have been missed in the copy and content editing stages, such as spelling, punctuation, and serious grammatical errors, are caught. If there are any errors introduced during layout, such as, but not limited to, errors in headers and footers, page numbers, widows and orphans, and bad hyphen breaks at line ends, this is the stage to find them.

OVERALL SUMMARY OF PROOFREADING: Proofreaders are an extremely important part of book editing, providing the final check before press run. Here we merely check for typos, widows and orphans, etc., and other tiny errors that inevitably slip past the copy editors or layout persons.

SOME TIPS ON EDITING

* Get your manuscript pre-evaluated, if feasible, prior to editing.
* Secure no less than two editors (content & copy) to review your manuscript.
* Always get a second round of edits at the least.