Professional Book Editing Services by Experienced Editors

Our professional book editing services turn a finished draft into a book that reads clearly, holds attention and is ready to publish. Experienced editors work at the level your manuscript needs, from big-picture developmental editing to line editing, copy editing and a final proofread.

Choose the stage your book is at below, or send us a sample and we will tell you which edit it needs. You see every change as tracked edits and decide what to keep.

The main types of professional book editing

Book editing happens in stages, and each stage solves a different problem. Doing them in the right order saves money, because there is no point polishing sentences in a chapter that may be cut.

• Developmental editing looks at structure, plot, pacing, characters or argument, and tells you what to rework before anything else.
• Line editing improves style, flow, tone and clarity, sentence by sentence.
• Copy editing corrects grammar, spelling, punctuation and consistency, and checks details against a style sheet.
• Proofreading is the final check on the designed pages, catching typos and formatting slips before you publish.

Which edit does your manuscript need?

A first or second draft usually needs developmental editing. A draft with a sound structure but uneven prose benefits from line editing. A polished manuscript needs a copy edit, and the final proofread follows once the interior is laid out. If you are unsure, a manuscript critique gives you an honest assessment of the whole book and a clear recommendation for the next step.

Working with a ghostwriter? A ghostwritten manuscript goes through the same editing stages as any other. See our ghostwriting services.

Editors matched to your genre

Fiction and non-fiction need different skills. A romance manuscript goes to an editor who reads and edits romance, and a business book goes to someone who understands the conventions of business writing. Matching editor to genre means they know what your readers expect, and they improve your book rather than rewrite it into something else.

What you receive from an edit

You receive your manuscript with tracked changes and comments, so every edit is visible and you can accept or reject each one. A developmental edit typically includes an editorial letter that explains the main issues and how to address them, and a copy edit typically includes a style sheet that records the spelling and style decisions made in your book. You then review the changes at your own pace and send questions to your editor.

When the edits are done, our book design services and book publishing services take the book from clean manuscript to published title.

How to choose the right level of edit

Editing works best in order. A developmental edit looks at the big picture: structure, pacing, characters and argument. Line editing improves the sentences. Copy editing fixes grammar, consistency and facts. Proofreading is the final check for small errors in the finished pages. Doing these in the wrong order wastes money, because polishing sentences you later cut is effort lost. If you are unsure where you are, a manuscript critique tells you what the book needs first and what can wait.

What to do before you send your manuscript

A little preparation makes any edit more useful. Read the book aloud once, which exposes clumsy sentences, and fix the obvious errors yourself. Keep names and places consistent, and note any spelling choices you want, such as UK or US. Tell the editor who the book is for and what you want readers to feel or learn. Send a clean file with tracked changes accepted, so the editor works on your real final text and not on drafts layered on drafts.