What type of editor do I need?
The type of editor or editing service you need depends on a few factors:
your objective for the project
your budget
your time frame
how much work you’re interested in doing on your own
The following details the different types of editors and the services they provide.
Substantive, developmental, or structural editing
Substantive editing, also known as structural or developmental editing, focuses on content, organization, and presentation of your book. A substantive editor will help you shape your story so that major structural issues are addressed and rewritten. This is an intensive edit that will likely require a complete rewrite once the project has been returned to the writer. The substantive/structural editor’s job is to help you fix what is broken in a big-picture sense. They typically do not address the minutiae (grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc.); that happens at the line and copy edit stages.
Line editing
A line edit is a line-by-line deep dive into the mechanics of the manuscript to address and remedy issues with grammar, spelling, punctuation, characters (arc), plot, dialogue, continuity, repetitive word usage (echoes), cliché and overuse, sentence structure and variety, tone, proper use of metaphor, verb tense, show vs. tell, basic fact-checking, point of view (POV) and head hopping, and voice. This is an intensive, microfocused process.
Copy editing
A copy edit is a thorough review of your manuscript once it has gone through the line edit phase to check for spelling, grammar, and usage errors. These fixes are made in alignment with a style list or in-house style guide to make uniform unique spellings, handling of numbers and lists, and other author-specified preferences. Copy editing might not change the substance of the text itself but usually fixes technical issues missed or introduced during the post-line edit revisions. Copy editors tend to not provide global feedback on story but rather work to ensure your story is as clean as it can be before going to print or being sent to an agent or editor. There is some crossover between copy and line editing.
Proofreading
A proofread is a final review before publishing or sending out your book or project. The purpose is to look for errors in grammar, punctuation, spelling, usage, and pesky typos that persisted through copy edits and/or that may have been introduced during the revision stage after copy edits were incorporated. It is amazing how those little mistakes make it through, but they are quite determined!
Read & report
A read & report is exactly what it sounds like: an editor reads your manuscript with an editorial eye and provides detailed feedback to address the strengths and weaknesses of your project. Writers find this sort of editorial read helpful when they finish a manuscript and need to know if it’s working but don’t have access to trusted critique partners or beta readers. This service does not include editing of any kind. It is a detailed report on the integrity of the manuscript and will include advice and tips to improve the project to assist the writer in the revision process.
Do I need an editor if I’m self-publishing my book?
Absolutely. If you publish a book that hasn’t been properly edited, the readers will let you know in the reviews.
Do I need to hire an editor if I’m planning on sending my book to an agent?
It depends who you ask! If your plan is to send your book to your dream agent or to a publisher that accepts manuscripts directly (agented or unagented), remember the old adage: “You only get one chance to make a first impression.” Agents are inundated with queries every single day, and if your manuscript isn’t as clean and tight and tidy as it possibly can be, it won’t make it past the first gate. If budget is an issue and you cannot afford to hire an editor before querying or submitting, at the very least you should seek the help of beta readers, critique partner(s), and/or a writers’ group to help review your project.
It should be noted that it does happen on occasion that an agent’s interest is piqued on a project and they’ll send it back to the writer with a request for revisions. If that happens to you, I’d advise that you hire a professional editor to guide you through the process. If an agent makes this request for edits before they reconsider your manuscript, your fixes have to be more than shuffling a few paragraphs around or fixing commas. (Trust me. I did this. It did not go well.)
Visit the Resources page for a list of sites from which to start your search for just the right editor.
Full disclosure: I am a copy and line editor, so most of the above was taken from my editing services website, Plumfield Editing.