Developmental Editing

You've written your book, you’re happy with it, and have even shown it to some friends and family. They all gave you great feedback, but for some reason publishers keep rejecting it. How can this be?

Feedback from people close to you is great, but what you really need is feedback from a professional, unbiased source. That’s where an editor comes in. We can apply our skills to your manuscript in a practical, non-judgemental and, most importantly, honest way.

We won’t pull any punches.

If something isn’t working, we’ll tell you.

But we’ll do it with a smile.

Perhaps a character's motivation isn't defined well enough because, to you, it's obvious. Or maybe you think the opening chapter is riveting because you know what's coming next, but would a first-time reader feel the same way?

A developmental edit is designed to fix these problems, and many more. It takes a holistic approach to the text to ensure that everything fits together in the strongest way possible.

The developmental editing process can be intense, and will usually ask questions of your work that you hadn't considered. It can find major problems requiring a lengthy rewrite. Other times all that will be needed is to tighten up a few chapters and swap around a couple of scenes.

A developmental edit includes feedback made directly into your manuscript, plus a comprehensive report that details everything that’s working, and everything that isn’t.