The Importance of Separate Developmental Editing and Copyediting Rounds As I mentioned in my previous blog post, indie authors often want editors to combine DE and CE in one round of editing. I mentioned that one problem with doing this is the likelihood of overwhelming the author. Another problem is the complexity. There’s no point… Read more How (and why) to keep developmental editing and copyediting separate
What is the difference between a developmental edit, a critique, and a copyedit? It’s important to distinguish between an edit that is largely intended to deal with big-picture problems (the developmental edit) and one that is meant to catch the sentence-level problems (a copyedit). It’s common, especially when working with independent authors who can’t afford… Read more Editorial Distinctions
You probably landed here because you like books. Maybe you’ve always wanted to be an editor or maybe you think it would be a good freelance business to get into. But you don’t know exactly what being a good editor means or how one would go about acquiring the necessary skills to do it well.… Read more How to get started in developmental editing
If you’re new to editing, you may not be familiar with the various roles different types of editors play. If you’re planning to work as a freelancer, it pays to understand who does what at a publishing company. This list is intended to help you figure that out. The Different Types of Editors The acquisitions/assigning… Read more What Do Editors Do?
I’m often asked the meaning of abbreviations used when we’re talking about editing books. These are some of the more common: Abbreviations Used in Editing AE = acquisitions editor (usually your contact person when working for publishers) CE = copy editor/copyediting DE = developmental editor/developmental editing, sometimes referred to as “dev” ms = manuscript mss… Read more Common abbreviations used in editing
One of the first things that acquisitions editors and literary agents learn in their jobs is to use the query letter to evaluate a manuscript. AEs and lit agents are looking for cues that a project is or isn’t right for them. In my career, I’ve worked as both an AE and a lit agent.… Read more Using a Query Letter to Identify Developmental Problems in a Manuscript
I’m frequently asked for help by editors trying to get established as freelancers. Not surprisingly, many people want to know how to get editorial projects from publishers, as obviously this could be a good source of ongoing work. So when I received the following question, at first I thought of it as a “how to… Read more Getting ready to do editorial work for publishers
