Developmental editing— 

I think of developmental editing as macro-editing. I look for large-scale issues and provide suggestions for solutions in any identified problem area. My goal is to empower you to improve your manuscript and become a stronger writer in the process. Areas of focus during developmental editing include:

• Point of view and tense
• Strengths and weaknesses of the writing
• Character issues and development (for fiction and some non-fiction)
• Treatment of complicated structures (for instance, multiple time periods, multiple focal characters)
• Dialog issues
• Evaluation of hooks and transitions
• General fact-checking

Substantive or line editing—

Substantive editing is micro-editing. I identify minute problems of sentence structure, focusing on issues such as

• Spelling
• Grammar
• Punctuation
• Dialog structure

To a certain degree, I also apply developmental editing during this process, making note of additional weaknesses in writing and character development. To help you learn to identify such issues on your own, I provide notes explaining the majority of my edits.

Copyediting—

Copy editing addresses technical errors in writing (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and inconsistencies that may have occurred due to revisions. Copy editing is most often used as preparation for typesetting and ensures that the manuscript is in standard format (margins, fonts, spacing and other layout).

Fact checking—

You don’t want to find out after the publication of your manuscript that a crucial feature in your historical novel had not yet been invented during the setting of the story. A fact checker can save you long-lasting embarrassment! 

Email me and tell me about your project. I'll be happy to tell you more about my services and how we can work together to make your manuscript all you know it can be.

You write to communicate to the hearts and minds of others what's burning inside you. And we edit to let the fire show through the smoke.

—Arthur Plotnik