There are so many types of editing that even professionals cannot agree on them all, nor what order they should be considered and performed. At Quillkeepers, we focus on five types we find to be most important for our demographic of writers. 



While all writers should edit their manuscripts to the best of their ability, it is easy to miss things, especially when it is your own work. If you regularly post on social media, how often have you posted something only to find a mistake after the fact? These minor blemishes can be pretty embarrassing when you try to be perceived as a serious artist. We offer one or all four of our editing services for your projects.


Development editing often happens early in the editing process, usually while the manuscript is in the drafting phase. We look at setting, chronology, plot, characterization, structure, pacing, and marketability. During this process, we act in the same way as beta readers. We are not looking for grammatical errors. Instead, during this phase, we provide constructive criticism to help enrich your story or idea.


Substantive/Rewriting editing usually takes place early in the editing process. It focuses on the content, organization, and presentation of the manuscript. We blur the line between substantive editing and rewriting. With this service, instead of suggesting the author rework sentences or tighten up paragraphs, we rewrite the sentence or paragraph for them. Our rewrite will focus on odd structure, flow, plot, characterization, marketability, and anything else we may pick up on. 


Line editing is a deeper structural edit. We focus on your manuscript on a line-by-line basis. We focused on fine-tuning elements like language, redundancy, flow, tone, and tightening up floundering sentences or paragraphs. We also look for things like grammar and spelling. We are also looking for the use of wrong prepositions and homophones.

Copy editing is probably our most intense editing service. We are looking at your manuscript on a word-by-word basis. This service takes line editing to the next level. We are paying attention to every punctuation mark in each line of your document, focusing on typos, spelling, and grammar mishaps. This part of editing generally comes toward the end of the writing process. In most cases, right before the artist is ready to format the interior for print purposes. 

Proofreading editing is almost always the last step before your project makes it to print. In this process, we give your manuscript one last look before it finds its permanency in printed form. We examine structural, aesthetic, and interior formatting, ensuring the page numbers are consecutive and the table of contents matches the interior chapters. During this phase, we look for final typos or spelling mistakes. However, this is not the time to add or delete entire paragraphs, stanzas, chapters, etc. Doing so can mess up the interior format, and the artist and editor will start from ground zero, which proves costly for both the editor and the author. 

We hope you have found this informative and clarifying. Please contact us with any questions or for a free quote.