Editing: Part 2 – What are the different kinds of editing?
January 23, 2008 by Lillie
Table of contents for Editing
In the first installment of the series, we talked about what editing is: preparing written material for publication or presentation. This series specifically covers self-editing: preparing your own work to publish, to submit to a publication, or – if you’re a freelancer – to turn in to your client.
Now, let’s talk about different kinds of editing. I’m not trying to present the definitive explanation of every kind of editing. Not everyone agrees, and you don’t need to be an expert in editing to edit your own work. However, recognizing differences among kinds of editing will help ensure that you do all the editing you should do on your manuscript. You will also work more effectively with editors – freelancers or publishing house employees – if you know what they mean.
In the publishing FAQs on the Web site of the Small Publishers Association of North America, Creative Minds Press says
There are two kinds of editing and then there’s proofreading.
The Bay Area Editors’ Forum describes a dozen kinds of editing. The Editors’ Association of Canada lists a similar number … but with differences in names and definitions.
Many tasks (such as permissions editing and project editing) relate to publishing houses rather than to writers self-editing their own work. If you get a contract with a traditional publisher for your manuscript, familiarize yourself with the different kinds of editors who will be working on your book. If you want to know how to edit your own work, however, you don’t need to know what markup/coding is.
I think the following categories cover what you need to do in self-editing:
- Content editing – also called developmental, substantive, or structural editing; revising; rewriting
- Revising or moving entire paragraphs or sentences
- Adding new material to fill in gaps and deleting original material that doesn’t work
- Re-organizing and restructuring content to improve flow and clarity
- Copyediting – also called line, mechanical, or stylistic editing
- Correcting spelling, grammar, punctuation, and mechanics
- Checking that the content follows the appropriate style guide or internal style sheet
- Verifying facts and ensuring consistency
- Clarifying meaning and improving readability by changing word choices and sentence structure
- Proofreading
- Reading the final copy of the manuscript to check for errors
- Ensuring that all changes have been incorporated and that no errors have slipped in during the editing process
Not everyone will agree with these descriptions, but I think authors self-editing their own work will be more effective if they look at editing as a process involving these three elements.
You may see different terminology on Web sites of individuals and companies offering editing services. If you plan to hire a freelance editor, be sure to understand what they mean by the terms they use. You will also see options of “light,” “medium,” and “heavy” editing. Again, these terms won’t mean the same to everyone, so you need to make sure you understand exactly what the editor will do. Most editors will give you a free sample edit of a small part of your work. Take advantage of those offers to see if what the editor does matches what you expect.
I offer only one level of editing, what would be described as “heavy” by most people. Although I realize no manuscript will reach perfection, I’m not comfortable with doing less than the best I can. The only “light” edit I ever did taught me to stick with “heavy” edits. Writers who want to create the best work they can will accept nothing less than “heavy” edits from themselves.
Next time, we’ll talk about when and how to start editing your work. In the meantime, I’d like to know your reaction to the categories of self-editing described above. Did I leave out something important to you? Did I include anything you don’t think should be part of the editing process? Leave a comment and let us know.
Lillie,
Great description of the different types and degrees of editing. I agree with you on these–and, like you, I tend toward “heavy” editing myself, because I simply wouldn’t feel right knowing that I could have improved a piece further and didn’t.
Of course, it is important, as you say, to retain the writer’s own voice and remain stylistically true to the tone of the work, which can sometimes present a challenge.
Excellent series so far!
Jeanne
Some nice info about different type of editing. We have to be especially careful about that when we’re editing someone else’s work.
I agree with you on the different kinds of editing — I, too, think of heavy editing as revising. I’m hard at work these days revising a rough draft I wrote last year. And I do those editing phases in stages — first the heavy editing (revisions), then the copyediting, then the final draft proofreading.
till now i did the easy job of reading .so just got to know the tough job of editing .
Well these are some good tips going forward with editing. Now the real question is, do you use an editor for this website
Walter,
I do not use another editor for my website. However, I usually follow my own advice to put a little time between writing and editing and to read the post aloud during editing. This blog is primarily for fun for me, but I try to produce a quality product.
I do use another editor for my books. All of us, even professional editors, need another pair of eyes. I can catch everyone’s mistakes but my own.
Before beginning any editing it’s important to take a break from writing. Once the first draft of the story is finished, put it away for a month or six weeks, or longer if possible, and let it rest. After a break it will be clearer which changes need to be made.
david,
Good advice. I have given this advice many times, including other posts in this series.
Readers, however, are the most important reasons why every writer should edit. By readers, I don’t simply mean the folks who buy books and magazines. Readers are also your teachers, members of your workshop or writing group, and even your friends and family. It’s almost a matter of etiquette — it’s disrespectful to ask someone to read your sloppy rough draft or a project you’ve only reviewed once or twice. If you don’t have the time to polish your writing, why should anyone make time to read it?
chris,
This is one of the things Aggie Villanueva talks about in her book I posted about at http://lillieammann.com/2011/01/05/editing-the-rewritten-word/
Great article n different kinds of Editing,Thanks for that
Glad you liked it, Heather. Thanks for the comment.
This series is so increadibly helpful to me, thank you. My boss and I always get into disagreements on editing and proofreading and this really clears it up.
Bryan,
I’m glad the series is helpful to you … and your boss.
[...] A Writer’s Words, An Editor’s Eye [...]
[...] giving credit to writer and editor Lillie Ammann. Lillie grouped an author’s editing process into three areas: content editing, copyediting, and [...]
I’m a retired engineer. As most of you know engineers are very efficient. So…when I am asked to critique a fellow writers work they can expect to see some of their words and phrases removed.
It does improve the pace of the story.
Eddie,
My late husband was an engineer who loved efficiency. Most writers do tend to use more words than needed, and getting rid of the unnecessary verbiage makes the work better.
[...] (Note that there are different phases of editing. You may only need help with some of them. This article is an interesting read on that [...]
Thanks, Jeanne. Your comment on retaining the writer’s voice is so important. I’m primarily aiming this series at writers self-editing their own work, but we can edit our own voice out of a piece by over-zealous editing.
We have to be especially careful about that when we’re editing someone else’s work.
I’m glad you found the information helpful.
Glad you agree, Thomma Lyn. And the stages are what I’m going to talk about next in this series so we’re on the same wavelength.
Reading is easy for the reader only if the author (and possibly editors) have done the tough job of editing to make the document easy to read and understand.