What Type of Book Editing do you Need?

If you're an author, you must clearly understand how crucial editing is. It takes your raw manuscript and turns it into a polished one, making your book ready to go into the hands of readers. If you're an author, you must know how important editing is. But with so many types of editing available in the market, it becomes difficult to understand what type of editing to go with can make you feel perplexed. An author needs to know the types of book editing to figure out the best one for his manuscript. So, what are the types of book editing, and how do you know which one your book needs?

Let’s break it down.

1. Developmental Editing

• What It Is: Developmental editing is one of the in-depth forms of editing. It's about plot structure, character, themes, and overall flow. A developmental editor will refine your complete story.

• When do You Need It:  After completing the first draft of your manuscript it is recommended to seek feedback about how the story is so far, this is the stage when you need developmental editing. It addresses flat characters, lack of proper pacing, lack of proper arrangement of information, or scenes that don't fit in.

• Books That Typically Need Developmental Editing: Novels with complex plots or multiple POVs and non-fiction books with heavy research or so much information to organize. Authors who are less experienced in writing long-form content can also benefit from it.

2. Structural Editing:

• What is it: People are often confused between structural editing and developmental editing. Structural editing improves the framework of your book. It focuses more on organizing the content and not on refining it. The editor looks at the order of chapters, and the strength of the arguments (for non-fiction), and checks how different elements of the story connect throughout the book.

• When do You Need It: After completing the book it is important to make sure that everything is in the right order and all the elements fit together. If any section feels awkward, an editor will suggest rearranging or trimming the parts of the manuscript to improve its flow.

• Books That Typically Need Structural Editing: Non-fiction books such as memoirs, self-help, books, or textbooks where the structure is crucial to deliver the information effectively and fiction manuscripts that feel disorganized or jumpy.

3. Line Editing

• What is it: Line editing is about improving the writing style according to the genre and target audience of the book. A line editor focuses on the structure of sentences, clarity, flow, and tone of the book and makes sure that the writing is clear, easy to understand, and compelling. They work on awkward sentences and remove unnecessary words.

• When do You Need It:  Your manuscript is structurally good but sounds rough because of the language. If your writing is too wordy, a line editor will refine your writing style and make sure that your voice doesn't lose its charm.

• Books That Need Line Editing:  Manuscripts that are proper in terms of the storyline but don't sound smoother while reading it. Books where tone and voice play a vital role, like literary fiction or personal memoirs.

4. Copy Editing

• What It Is:  Copy editing is more about polishing the finer details. A copy editor checks for grammar, punctuation, spelling, and consistency (like making sure character names are spelled the same throughout). While line editing looks at style, copy editing focuses on accuracy.

• When do You Need It:  Once your manuscript is finished and the style is locked in, you want to make sure all the details are correct and consistent. A copy editor will make sure the language is clean and free from errors before it moves on to publishing.

• Books That Need Copy Editing: Books with detailed world-building or non-fiction with lots of facts and figures. You can avoid it if you're confident about the grammar and consistency of your book.

5. Proofreading

• What is it: Proofreading is the final step before publishing. A proofreader is your last line of defense against typos, formatting issues, and small errors that might have been missed during copy editing. They won’t rewrite sentences or suggest major changes—they’re just there to make sure everything is perfect.

• When do You Need It:  After all other edits are done and your book is almost ready to go to print (or be published online). This is the very last stage to catch any tiny mistakes that might have slipped through the cracks.

• Books That Need Proofreading:  Any book that’s about to be released to the public. Whether it’s a novel, memoir, or guidebook, no manuscript should skip proofreading.

Which Type of Editing Does Your Book Need?

• First Draft or Early Stages:  If you have just finished writing your book, start with developmental editing because it focuses on in-depth refining of your book.

• Polished Draft but Needs Fine-Tuning:  If your story or the content of your non-fiction book is strong but the writing is too wordy then you should choose line editing.

• Ready for Publishing but Need Clean-Up:  If you are confident about the structure and style of your book but want to fix grammatical or spelling errors then go for copy editing.

• Almost  Ready To Publish:  It is important to proofread your book before publishing to make sure that there are no errors in it.

Each type of editing has a different purpose, a book needs more than one round of editing. If you're still confused and not able to make a proper decision, you should contact a professional editor and let him help you understand the needs of your manuscript.