What are the different types of editing?
Every book needs editing.
As Hemingway once said: “The only kind of writing is rewriting.”
Editing, however, is more than a single process. It’s a systematic refinement that crafts your expertise into an accessible, engaging manuscript.
We’re happy to meet you wherever you are in your writing process, but to help you figure out what you need, we’re going to go over developmental editing, line editing, copy editing, and proofreading (particularly in the context of non-fiction).
Developmental Editing: The Big Picture
Developmental editing — also known as structural or content editing — focuses on the foundational elements of your manuscript. It’s often the first and most comprehensive type of editing your manuscript will undergo.
Developmental editing examines your work's overall structure, flow, development, arcs, pacing, and thematic and tonal consistency.
A developmental editor asks critical questions like:
Does each chapter logically build upon the previous one?
Are complex concepts clearly explained?
Do your examples and case studies effectively illustrate your points?
Does the narrative maintain reader engagement throughout?
Do you anticipate and address potential counterarguments?
Are there gaps where readers might need more context?
Could the chapters be reordered for better comprehension?
Are more examples needed to clarify complex concepts?
Does your personal narrative connect to your book’s themes and message?
When we work as developmental editors, we help guide you through questions like these. Addressing these “problems” might involve substantial restructuring, adding new content, or removing sections that don't serve your book's core purpose.
Line Editing: Crafting Your Voice
Line editing operates at the paragraph and sentence level, with a focus on maintaining the delicate balance between authority and approachability that effective non-fiction requires.
Line editing is more than a grammar check (that’s next). It focuses on flow and readability. It involves examining your writing style, word choice, and sentence structure; and ensuring that your manuscript accurately captures your voice.
This might mean:
translating jargon into accessible language,
strengthening transitions between concepts,
eliminating redundancy and passive voice,
maintaining consistent tone throughout, and
balancing authority with accessibility.
Copy Editing: The Technical Polish
With copy editing, we’re getting closer to the finished product. We’re checking for things such as:
grammar,
punctuation,
spelling, and
syntax.
Copy editing also includes ensuring proper formatting of elements like dialogue, citations, and chapter headings, while also continuing to look for ways to ensure style consistency and verify factual accuracy where possible (we are, however, not lawyers). You can think of your copy editor as your very own quality control specialist.
Proofreading: The Final Polish
Proofreading is the final quality control step before publication.
Unlike other editing types, proofreading doesn't involve making substantial changes to your manuscript. Instead, proofreading focuses on surface-level errors that might’ve slipped through previous editing rounds. It’s your last line of defense against embarrassing mistakes that could distract readers or damage your professional reputation.
At this phase, we’re looking to catch any remaining typos, formatting inconsistencies, or errors. We’ll check things like page numbers, headers, footers, and ensure consistent spacing and indentation. We’ll even look at “boring” (but important!) things like making sure the table of contents matches actual chapter titles, index entries point to the right pages, and cross-references within the text are accurate.
So, what do you need?
Most professionally published manuscripts go through all four stages of editing.
It’s part of the process of turning a rough draft into a polished, professional piece that genuinely serves your readers while establishing your authority.
Your prose needs to be more than correct, it needs to be compelling. And no matter where your are in the writing process your manuscript deserves an honest assessment of where it’s at and what’s needed.
We hope this helps you pinpoint exactly what your manuscript needs. And regardless of where you’re at, we always recommend an outside eye for copy editing and proofreading. You’ve worked too hard to have tiny typo get in your way.