By exception, every text needs editing, but which types does it need? Depending among others on a manuscript’s goals and audiences, it may need only some of these:

• developmental editing (a.k.a. conceptual editing or manuscript appraisal)
• evaluation editing (a.k.a. a manuscript critique or structural edit)
• content editing (a.k.a. substantive editing or full editing)
• line editing (a.k.a. stylistic editing or comprehensive editing)
• copyediting and
• proofreading.

There are overlaps between them. Further, developmental, evaluation and content editing are often done by peers.

Developmental editing
A developmental edit happens early in the writing process. An author may have an idea for or a rough outline of a book, dissertation, chapter or article, but they need help bringing the parts together.

A developmental editor looks at the big picture, focusing primarily on a manuscript’s organisation and structure. They help ensure that the author’s arguments line up, that everything is in the right place, and that everything flows.

For instance: Is the author leaving out any crucial details? Is there text that is irrelevant and should be deleted? Addressing these questions helps an author to fix what’s not working and deepen what works well.

Developmental editors do no writing or rewriting. They make suggestions, helping an author to become a better writer by outlining how to organise their ideas, structure the content and transition smoothly between ideas.

They help an author to see a document the way readers see it. Their feedback helps craft a text that people will enjoy reading.

Evaluation editing
An evaluation edit occurs early in the writing process. Here, the focus is on organisation, structure, flow, argument, scope, audiences, length, style, completeness and overall quality. An evaluation editor will usually provide an author with notes that contain their key points, concerns and suggestions for the manuscript.

Similar to a developmental editor, an evaluation editor focuses on big picture issues. If they say that a text’s organisation and structure need work, a developmental edit may well be needed.

If the structure is sound but the writing requires work, an author may request a content edit or a line edit/copyedit/proofread to strengthen the manuscript. An evaluation edit helps safeguard one from paying for later-stage edits or trying to publish a manuscript before it’s ready.

There are overlaps between developmental and evaluation editing. While for an evaluation edit an author needs a finished manuscript, they may approach a developmental editor with or without one.

Content editing
Content editing kicks off the process of digging into the words on the page. It involves editing with an eye on completeness, flow and the construction of ideas and stories, paragraph by paragraph and chapter by chapter.

A content edit may involve moving paragraphs or sections around within chapters or to different chapters; text may also be deleted. It should offer corrections, point out incomplete sections, and offer advice on smoothing the flow and the construction of chapters, sections and subsections.

A content edit also focuses on tone and voice, in light of the target audiences, to ensure that the content’s tone is a good fit for these and that the writing sounds like the author (voice).

While content edit and line edit are sometimes used interchangeably, a content edit is less detailed – it exists between the high-level view of a developmental or an evaluation edit and the ground-level view of a line edit.

Line editing
A line edit – a line-by-line review – is the most detailed edit one can get. It focuses on word choice and whether every sentence has the intended impact. It is concerned with how the words in a sentence interact.

A line edit shortens long sentences and fixes run-on sentences, sentence fragments and clichés. It clarifies meaning, eliminates jargon, and ensures that each sentence sounds right and flows into the next.

Even a great line edit cannot fix a poorly structured document.

Line edits may also involve copyediting, but not necessarily. First clarify up-front.

Copyediting
When an author has a completely finished manuscript (not one that’s ‘close to done’ or has ‘a few gaps’), it’s time for a copyedit. This involves going through a document meticulously.

When reading a manuscript aloud, an author may catch obvious mistakes and wording issues, but they will likely miss small sentence structure and grammar issues that even some native English speakers may not be aware of.

Copyeditors also help check that a document follows the applicable style guide. For books, many authors choose the Chicago Manual of Style (CMoS).

Proofreading
Although copyediting and proofreading are sometimes used interchangeably, they describe different processes that benefit a manuscript in different ways. As it comes right before publication, proofreading is the last line of defence against errors.

By now, the manuscript’s layout and formatting should have been done. Like a copyedit, a proofread searches for layout issues such as consistency in the headings, the placement of tables and figures, bad line or page breaks, and so on.

Because so much published writing now lives online, some editorial teams don’t bother with proofreading, only using copyeditors to get content publication-ready. However, many still ask for proofreading prior to publication.

One reason for distinguishing between line editing, copyediting and proofreading is to emphasise that writing always benefits from more than one set of eyes; in traditional publishing, at least three people go through a text in great detail.

You should now have a very good idea which editing types your manuscript needs. These will help ensure that readers can enjoy what you have worked on for days, weeks, months or years without their being distracted by errors and inconsistencies.

My work is an integrated, transformative blend of line editing, copyediting and proofreading.

The sooner you contact me, the sooner I can assist you…

Sources
Tucker Max (9 March 2019): What are the different types of editing?

Joseph M. Moxley (2023): Editing.

Editor World (n.d.): What is editing and why do you need editing services?

sharptooth (question asked 4 December 2012): How many errors per page volume is typically “okay” in a book?

Conni Eversull (9 November 2010): Acceptable number of document errors?

Scott Bury (28 August 2017): How many typos are acceptable?