Development editing
Developmental editing happens fairly early in the process. Before moving into a lot of detail, it is important to check that your draft covers the planned purpose. Once you are happy that the book works, you can move onto refining other issues like punctuation. I can:
- Check your manuscript fits your reader’s needs by:
- using appropriate language.
- having effective illustrations and tables.
- having progressive stages that build on each other.
- giving clear instructions where required.
- Check your manuscript fits the brief and:
- contains all the featured you planned.
- forms a cohesive and focused book to inspire readers.
- has no gaps in the content or missing features.
- Assist with major restructures and rewrites.
- Suggest more appropriate terminology or simpler sentence structure.
The output of the process can be:
- an editorial report, summarising how well manuscript meets the brief and suggests ways to improve it.
- notes and edits in the manuscript, including suggestions on where and how manuscript might be strengthened, highlighting specific instances of where storytelling technique can be improved etc.
Copy editing
This stage happens just before typesetting. The process focuses on details, and covers things like:
- Do you still have typos and errant punctuation?
- Has any technical jargon been defined?
- Are there any redundant words?
- Is any subject matter duplicated?
- Are any cross references correct?
- If word count (or space occupied) is important, what can be done to meet the target?
The Proof Angel 