In a developmental edit (sometimes also called a content edit), we look at your story as a whole and make suggestions on issues like structure, character arc, point of view (POV), internal and external conflict, plot holes or unresolved story lines, and pacing. We’ll make comments in the Word document with specific notes and also send you an editorial letter that details some of the bigger or more overarching points that should be addressed along with explanations, examples, and links to other resources as appropriate.
Real talk, kids: If you’re a new author, you likely need a developmental edit. Editor Jess is 99% sure of that before reading your sample. Multi-published indie authors continue to partner with developmental editors for a reason. Even with a clear understanding of romance story structure, you’re so deep in the world and invested in your characters that it can be tough to analyze your own writing and know which aspects of the story may still need some work.
For a manuscript up to 100,000 words, we generally need 2-3 weeks to complete the edit.
What’s the submission process?
When you’re ready to schedule your edit, hit that “Book My Edit” button!
Once we’ve confirmed your project is a good fit for us – and you’ve confirmed that we’re a good fit for you – we’ll send you an editing agreement to review and sign digitally.
After the agreement is signed, we’ll request a $150 nonrefundable deposit to save your project dates on our calendar. The cost of the edit is based on exact word count, so we’ll invoice you once we receive the document. Full payment is due when we begin work, and of course, the deposit will go toward that final total.
We work in Microsoft Word. If you write in another program, like Google Docs or Scrivener, just be sure to save your manuscript as a Word doc in order to send it to us.