Some of the other brave souls we've worked with...
(Click on the book's cover to be magically whisked away to its Amazon buy page.)
If you look at any list of great modern writers such as Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, and F. Scott Fitzgerald, you'll notice two things about them:
1. They all had editors
2. They are all dead
Thus we can draw the scientific conclusion that editors are fatal.
-- Dave Barry
Substantive Editing
You've spent months (maybe years, even) working on draft after draft of the next bestseller. It's a work of true perfection that is guaranteed to rocket you, the proud author, into instant stardom. The likes of Stephen King hold nothing on you. Suzanne Collins should take a seat. E. L. James should just go and---(okay, don't get me started on her). Now, satisfied, you sit back in your chair smug as a new parent whose baby has just slept through the night for the first time. You flip through the pages of your manuscript. Your eye stops at a random page somewhere near the middle. You begin to read, basking in the glory of your brilliance. But...that's when you see it. You scrunch your eyebrows into an unpleasant unibrow (when did your eyebrow hairs become so unwieldy?). A trickle of sweat slips down your cheek and splatters onto the paper, marring the pristine crisp black and whiteness. Common sense (the jerk!) begins to laugh at you. Your manuscript is NOT the beautiful newborn you imagined! You've found a plot hole and have no idea how to correct it.
Honey, stop worrying and wipe up that sweat (it's kinda gross). What you need is a substantive editor.
Substantive editing takes a look at the work on the whole. The substantive editor is concerned with bigger picture issues such as plot progression, character development, story arc, and many other things. A substantive editor will notice things like loose ends, inconsistencies in a character's voice, pacing, plot arc, character and plot development. In short, a substantive editor will make sure your story makes sense and is the best it can be from the structural side of things.
Honey, stop worrying and wipe up that sweat (it's kinda gross). What you need is a substantive editor.
Substantive editing takes a look at the work on the whole. The substantive editor is concerned with bigger picture issues such as plot progression, character development, story arc, and many other things. A substantive editor will notice things like loose ends, inconsistencies in a character's voice, pacing, plot arc, character and plot development. In short, a substantive editor will make sure your story makes sense and is the best it can be from the structural side of things.
Stylistic and Copy Editing
Stylistic editing is where the editor looks at the language on the paragraph-by-paragraph level. During this round, we will make sure your sentences flow well, they make sense, and that you don't contradict yourself. Often, your stylistic editor will reduce your word count by cutting unnecessary or otherwise repetitive phrases. Think of stylistic editing as the round during which your words will be made as beautiful as possible.
Copy editing is the editor's version of OCD. Where stylistic and substantive editing might be focused more on larger picture items, copy editing looks at the work under a microscope. Punctuation, word usage, spelling and its variants, grammar---all these things have rules, and it is the copyeditor's job to know the rules and to apply them correctly. Some will even check your facts for accuracy (I do). Basically, your copyeditor will make sure you don't look like a cousin of Bubbles or the boob who slept through the entirety of your English education. (If you're not sure of who Bubbles is...in honesty, you're probably better off.)
Copy editing is usually the final step taken before an author begins their quest for publication. It is the last spit shine and polish that can really make a work stand out in a crowd. Want to capture the attention of an agent or acquiring editor? First...write a really great book. Then, mention in your query letter that you've had your work professionally edited. Prove that you believe in your work and that you're not afraid to involve other industry professionals.
Copy editing is the editor's version of OCD. Where stylistic and substantive editing might be focused more on larger picture items, copy editing looks at the work under a microscope. Punctuation, word usage, spelling and its variants, grammar---all these things have rules, and it is the copyeditor's job to know the rules and to apply them correctly. Some will even check your facts for accuracy (I do). Basically, your copyeditor will make sure you don't look like a cousin of Bubbles or the boob who slept through the entirety of your English education. (If you're not sure of who Bubbles is...in honesty, you're probably better off.)
Copy editing is usually the final step taken before an author begins their quest for publication. It is the last spit shine and polish that can really make a work stand out in a crowd. Want to capture the attention of an agent or acquiring editor? First...write a really great book. Then, mention in your query letter that you've had your work professionally edited. Prove that you believe in your work and that you're not afraid to involve other industry professionals.
