All writers need the services of an editor. No matter how good they are, or believe themselves to be, they are guaranteed to make mistakes. This is much more likely to happen when the creative juices are really flowing and their hands can’t keep up with their brains. Yes, autocorrect can come to the rescue of quick typists who frequently misspell common words while Grammarly catches the sentence fragments and incongruous tenses, but neither of these can take the place of a trained editor.
Yes, you need the services of an editor. And while you may know this already, it is safe to question whether or not you know what type of editing service you need. Thankfully, writing editors can offer up to 4 levels of editing service, each of which cater to a very specific type of writing level, or stage of the draft. It is important to know that while most writers of books may require all 4 levels of service, smaller-scale writing may not necessarily require more than 2 or 3 of these services.
Service 1: Developmental Editing
Also known as content editing, developmental editing is the first service you should consider if you are a new writer or working on a large document. Developmental editing is a crucial service, mainly because it involves the discussion of ideas and structure for a piece that is not yet written, or assessing the piece as a whole while it is being written.
Service 2: Copyediting
Copyediting focuses on the flow of the paragraphs, or more specifically, the readability of your piece. This includes identifying formatting errors, and pinpointing problems with punctuation, grammar, syntax, and structure. It is extremely important that copyediting be conducted before any subsequent service. An editor who is hired specifically to line edit will do you any favours by skipping the copyediting stage. In fact, if your work has not been copyedited already, be prepared for this service to be recommended.
Service 3: Line Editing
A most crucial service that can be easily overlooked, line editing is focused on the assessment of words, including word choice, word placement, and the rhythm of the overall document. As its name suggests, line editing is predominately focused on sentences (or lines) and how they work to strengthen your piece as a whole.
Service 4: Proofreading
Surprisingly, proofreading is actually more involved than any of the other services. This is because it requires careful scrutinization to make sure that your document satisfies all the requirements of the previous services. It is by proofreading that the editor will turn your nearly finished piece into a work of art.
Now that you know the basic editing services writing editors provide, it’s time to ask yourself, What type of editing service do I need?
Good logic, but then someone perfectly right but may be without enough money to afford the editor, or they disagree. We make our own decisions, which I learned from when Noah survived: the majority is always wrong.
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