While editing comprises a number of different types of editorial services, it is, first and foremost, about taking an author’s words and turning them into a final product. It is usually broken down into three specific types.

➤ Developmental Editing

Developmental editors (also called “substantive,” “structural,” or “content” editors) deal with content, organization, and genre considerations. After reviewing a manuscript, they may provide an overall critique of the content in a “manuscript evaluation,” or they may provide the author with a revision (or “editorial” or “edit”) letter that outlines the big-picture issues and offers suggestions for how to address them.

➤ Line Editing

Line editors work at the sentence or paragraph level of a manuscript. Like copyeditors,they correct errors, but their main focus is on improving the language and style of the text. Line editing may be performed as a separate service, in conjunction with developmental editing after big-picture issues have been addressed, or in conjunction with copyediting.

➤ Copyediting

Perhaps the most familiar kind of editing is copyediting. Copyeditors correct spelling, grammar, usage, and punctuation, check cross-references, and may also prepare the style sheets that guide consistency and accuracy across the manuscript.

Proofreading is among the last stages of getting a manuscript ready for publication. Proofreaders check for typographical errors and formatting mistakes. In traditional publishing, proofreading is a review of a publisher’s “proof”—the document that is intended to be printed—whereby the proofreader compares the latest stage of the project to the previous one, making sure all changes have been made correctly.

Writers create the text for everything composed of the written word: books, magazine articles, web content, blog posts, technical manuals, advertising and catalogue copy, speeches, dissertations, newsletter articles, annual reports, and much more. Writing is the foundation of all other editorial work. Once text is written, the editorial process begins.

➤ Curriculum Development

Curriculum developers work with educators and producers of educational materials to help organize these materials and prepare them for use in the classroom. Ideally, those working in curriculum development have training and experience in education at the relevant grade level and knowledge of applicable curriculum standards.

➤ Work-for-Hire

Work-for-hire writing is any writing contracted out to a writer by a client, who retains all rights to the material. A work-for-hire writer may produce articles, blog posts, web content, advertising copy, newsletters, and even full-length works.

➤ Ghostwriting

Ghostwriting is a particular kind of work-for-hire writing in which the writer writes on behalf of someone else using that person’s voice. Ghostwriters write the text that will be attributed to another person’s authorship, whether it be for an autobiography, a memoir, or one of the many other types of books that are penned by these skilled writers.

➤ Beta reading

Beta readers review manuscripts and offer authors feedback and insight, identifying errors, plot problems, inconsistencies, or unclear sections in the work. They serve as a test audience, representing the target readership, and can help identify issues like overused tropes or missing elements. Some beta readers may have particular expertise in the manuscript’s subject matter.

➤ Authenticity Reading

Authenticity readers review manuscripts looking for statements, portrayals, or perspectives that might misrepresent people from a given group. Authenticity reads are generally performed by members of the community referenced within the work to avoid the misrepresentation of groups and the perpetuation of harmful stereotypes. Authenticity reading may overlap in many instances with sensitivity reading.

➤ Sensitivity Reading

Sensitivity readers review manuscripts looking for statements, portrayals, or perspectives that might offend readers. Sensitivity reads are generally performed by members of communities other than the author’s own so that the reader can provide helpful perspectives on language, characterization, and other aspects of the writing to help ensure that it is acceptable to the broadest possible audience. Sensitivity reading may overlap in many instances with authenticity reading.

➤ Desktop & Digital Publishing

Desktop and digital publishers use desktop software or online platforms to prepare written material for publishing. They produce publication-ready material by taking finalized text and creating a design, laying out pages, formatting text, and incorporating any illustrations or graphics. Desktop publishers produce print material (books, brochures, flyers) and digital publishers produce material to be distributed electronically (blogs, ebooks, enewsletters).

➤ Indexing

Indexers create a book’s index—an alphabetical list of topics, names, places, and important terms used in the work that provides page numbers for where they can be found. Indexing is usually done near the end of the project, when the final layout is ready and page numbers are no longer likely to change.

➤ Research and Fact-Checking

Researchers and fact-checkers find information to support the writing of a work or to verify information already supplied by the writer or editor. Fact-checkers review a manuscript and confirm the veracity of each statement that is claimed as an assertion of fact. While incidental fact-checking may occur during the editing process, this is a deeper level of scrutiny. Research and fact-checking are particularly important and common in journalism and historical writing (especially in fiction and narrative nonfiction, as opposed to scholarly writing).

➤ Permissions Management

Permissions editors verify the copyright status and ownership of works requiring permission to republish (written material or images whose copyright is held by someone other than the author) and either advise the author on how to obtain these permissions or acquire the necessary permissions on behalf of the author.

➤ Self-publishing Assistance

An editorial professional can help authors navigate the process of self-publishing by offering guidance on formatting, cover design, pricing, marketing, and other aspects of using the major self-publishing platforms.

Consulting involves a wide variety of services provided by editorial professionals. Below are some of the most common.

➤ Coaching

Coaches work with clients to develop, refine, or complete works in progress. This amorphous field covers everything from inspiration and encouragement to practical advice. Coaching is often done at the beginning of a project, to get things off the ground, or midway through a stuck project to get things going again. The term “consulting” often also applies to the help clients receive in navigating procedures and processes related to publishing, printing, or production.

➤ Marketing and Promotion

Marketing and promotion specialists work with authors to publicize their work. This may include developing marketing and promotion strategies; creating press releases, media kits, and the like; or producing marketing collateral such as print and electronic ads, postcards, and bookmarks, coffee mugs, and other swag to give away. These specialists may also help authors develop their public platforms through work on websites, social media, blogs, and podcasts.

➤ Project Management

Project managers focus on projects that are already in the production workflow (as opposed to those still in the initial or developmental stages) and work to push the project toward completion. They may supervise and coordinate the editorial process and, when necessary, hire copyeditors, proofreaders, indexers, and other editorial professionals. In some fields, this position is referred to as “managing editor” or “production editor.”

Transcriptionists listen to audio recordings, such as interviews, speeches, phone meetings, and dictations, and convert them into long-form text. They are often responsible for reviewing their written work for accuracy, spelling, and grammar. In specialized fields, transcriptionists might convert medical or legal records into written reports.

Translators recreate a work, published or unpublished, from one language into another, or review a translation for overall consistency or tone as well as accuracy.