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Editorial Distinctions: Different Types of Editing

Knowing the different types of editing will help you understand how they can often be fused together in a freelance editor’s project. The 3 Different Types of Editing Developmental editing (abbreviated DE or dev) looks at the big-picture concerns of a manuscript (ms). For nonfiction, we would ask: Is the structure logical? Is the argument…
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Avoiding “Here’s How I Would Write it” as an Editor

Have you used the “here’s how I would write it” editorial query? In making editorial suggestions, editors sometimes drift into “here’s how I would write it” territory, which is something I discourage. Authors don’t care what you would have done. They want to learn what they can do that will make their manuscript better. What…
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Ask the Editor: Line Editing During a Developmental Edit

To help editors struggling with the overlap in different types of editing, we need to revisit line editing vs developmental editing. From my inbox: “I’m a little confused about how much line editing is expected during a developmental edit. Are we expected to smooth over all of the tics in the author’s writing that might…
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Product mosaic marketing for freelance editors – or stop focusing on a sales funnel!

Stop Focusing on a Sales Funnel Marketers talk a lot about sales funnels, where you get a bunch of people to purchase a no-cost or low-cost item, then get them to buy a higher-priced product and so on up to your highest-priced product. Fewer people will buy your highest-priced product (thus the narrowing of the…
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Packing emotion into a tight space

Mastering Storytelling: Emotions in Writing Being able to convey emotions in writing is a storyteller’s dream. Kate Rusby is an English folk singer-songwriter whose songs sometimes make me laugh and sometimes make me cry. I typically write and edit in long form – novels, not short stories. So I’m always interested in how writers manage…
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Creating a cohesive developmental edit

The goal of every editor should be that of providing a cohesive developmental edit for a manuscript. A lot of the skill in developmental editing is just keeping your mouth shut. Not every single thing you notice needs to be commented upon. It doesn’t make the author’s revision go more effectively when you’re nitpicking about…
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Time-saving marketing tip for freelance editors

If you’re a freelance editor trying to drum up business, then stay tuned for a big time-saving marketing tip. One of the challenges when you’re starting out as a freelance editor is that there is SO MUCH you could be doing to market your services. There’s Facebook and Instagram and TikTok and YouTube (not to…
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