Editing Tiers
Proofreading is the final step in the editing process, focusing on catching and correcting surface errors in spelling, grammar, punctuation, and formatting, ensuring the text is polished and ready for publication without making substantive changes to content or style.
Light copyediting focuses on correcting surface-level errors in spelling, grammar, punctuation, and basic syntax, ensuring consistency in style and formatting, and verifying factual accuracy, all with the aim of polishing the text without altering the author's voice or the manuscript's substance.
Medium copyediting goes beyond the basics of light copyediting by also addressing issues of clarity, flow, and word usage, making moderate changes to sentence structure for better readability, ensuring overall consistency in tone and style, and enforcing a coherent voice throughout the manuscript, while still respecting the author's original intent and voice.
Line editing focuses on refining sentence structure, enhancing word choice, ensuring stylistic consistency, clarifying meaning, eliminating redundancies, improving narrative flow, and adjusting pacing to make the text clearer, more engaging, and effective in conveying the author's intent while preserving their unique voice.
Developmental editing is a comprehensive process that addresses the manuscript's big-picture elements, such as structure, character development, plot coherence, and thematic consistency. It involves evaluating and suggesting improvements for the overall narrative arc, deepening characters and their motivations, ensuring the plot is well-constructed and engaging, and aligning the manuscript's themes and messages with the author's vision, all to enhance the story's impact and resonance with readers.