Editing Comes in Stages

What is the "Right" Type of Editing for Your Work?

The services offered to new writers at CreateSpace, iUniverse, and other such companies come in a wide range of choices, which can be confusing for new writers. How do you know if you really need to pay high prices for developmental editing, advanced editing, basic copyediting, or simple proofreading? If you do not have a line of competent beta readers before you decide to hire a company to edit your work, the truth is you don't know what kind of editing your work needs.

A "beta" reader can be your Aunt Emmy, who taught English in high school, your friends willing to give your book a good read, or you can consider hiring a professional writer/editor, preferably someone who has also been published and knows what pitfalls lie in the path of self-editing. As a professional writer/editor, I wouldn't dream of publishing a book without also hiring an editor! It's not that writers, but especially new writers, are inherently bad writers, lacking in editing skills, or other weaknesses; rather, it's that all writers don't see what's on the page in front of them when attempting to edit their own work. They see what is in their heads and can easily pass over simple problems like reading "that" when the text clearly says "than." More of a challenge, however, is for the writer to see how a story is put together, rather than what she thinks is written. She doesn't know that she has gone twenty-five pages without giving the main character a name.

Sure she has given the character a name; she just hasn't told the reader what it is.

And she knows what the story is about, what the conflict between two characters is, but she hasn't made that clear to the reader. She knows what the apartment looks like where the main character lives; she just hasn't told the reader what it looks like. Nor has she adequately described the characters. She knows her heroine is a red head, but the readers don't. She knows the scene is taking place at night, but the readers don't.

Answering all such questions and more is precisely what a book evaluation can do for the writer. This is not to imply that many writers are not very astute in keeping readers' needs and expectations in mind as they revise their novels. A book evaluation can affirm the strength of a book, as well as point out weaknesses. In my many years of experience doing book evaluations, I also note that some of the best new writers seek out such detailed evaluations. A book evaluation is useful for pointing the way for a writer to consider revision strategies for her book.

Instead of first sending off your just-finished work to a big company with hundreds of editors on the payroll, where you have many decisions to make on the kind of editing services you think you need (but may not) and paying thousands of dollars, I strongly recommend that new writers hire a book evaluator to perform a thorough read.

Two Brothers Press has just such a service, and here is what we provide at a really minimal cost:

1. Developmental Editing Analysis

• A detailed analysis of the plot (if it's fiction).
• A detailed analysis of the subplots (story lines that contribute to plot development).
• Determining if the plot and story lines are highly original or uncomfortably close to being rather cliched. How many other books out there are interchangeable with this one?
• An analysis of whether the plot elements and story lines are presented in the best and most effective order. Do chapters need to be rearranged? Is the plot linear or circular?
• Is there a true narrative arc (plot development), usually echoing a three-act structure, so that it has a clear beginning, middle, and end?
• What point of view is the story told from: a character/narrator? An omniscient narrator?
• Is the opening well done, so that readers will be hooked and want to find out what happens, or is it flat and uninteresting and supplying little to make the reader even turn the page?
• Does the ending really relate to the opening in a meaningful way? Does the ending make sense based on what has happened in the story, or is it unsatisfying in too many ways, so that readers will not see the relationship between what has happened and how the story ends? Is there an ending at all? Are readers left hanging and dissatisfied? Are there hints in the ending that this will be a series?
• Based on the kind of genre category this work fits into, is the plot pacing and story development done well, or does it drag in places that it shouldn't? Is it paced too fast, thus lacking in adequate plot development?
• Is dialogue well done and relevant to the story, or is it irrelevant consisting of conversation just for the sake of having dialogue? Does the dialogue contribute to character development? Does the dialogue act as a vital avenue for story development? Does the dialogue take place in a vacuum or in a well-described setting?
• A detailed analysis of the characters.
• Is there a clear protagonist?
• Is there a clear antagonist?
• Does the work have too many characters, some of which could be combined? Are there too few characters? Can readers really even see the characters in their mind's eye, or are the characters generally nebulous and ill defined?
• Are the characters' names too confusing to easily remember? (This is usually a problem with fantasy writers who think that characters' names need to be overly exotic, tending to make up names with impossible to pronounce spellings. You might think you've stumbled into Irish legend the names are so odd and forgettable.)
• Do the characters have similar or different ways of speaking? Is their speech stilted and unnatural? 
• In scenes involving several characters, is it clear who is speaking?
• As the story unfolds do the characters seem to grow as a result of their experiences, or do they stay the same throughout? On the other hand, are the characters true to themselves or do they unaccountably change without logical reasons?
• Are the settings and characters well and adequately described or does the writer seem to expect readers to "fill in the detail"? Is there too much detail?

Copyediting Analysis

• An analysis (with examples) of issues in grammar, punctuation, spelling, word choice.
• An analysis of the author's writing style, syntax: things that aren't "technically" wrong but which have an impact on readability.

The items listed above are included in what is known as a book evaluation. This is different than the free 10-page copyedit evaluation, which Two Brothers Press also offers.

Editing comes in stages, and really, the very first "edit" should be the book evaluation. Writers might realize that they have some revisions to take care of before taking the next step in the editing process. In the evaluation stage, Two Brothers Press works directly with the author over a short period. If the writer submits his/her work to one of the big companies for basic or advanced copyediting, all personal contact with an editor is strictly limited, and the writer has to work through a company contact, rather than directly with the editor assigned to the project. What the writer ends up getting is artificial-intelligence editing. See the blog post "Editing Factories: A Little More Information."

Writers can also choose to stay with Two Brothers Press for the technical editing of the work and submit a typeset-ready document to a company—and save a bundle without compromising the professional editing. Further, companies are doing away with the initial book evaluation service. Do you know why? Because they can't make much money on book evaluations.