Not all edits are the same...
Think of editing as similar to photography. You can choose whether you want to focus in close on the smaller details (such as dew drops on a spiderweb), zoom out to show the foreground and background for a well-rounded shot of the subject, or use a telephoto or panoramic lens to capture the entire scene, creating a "big picture" vista. These are all effective ways to engage an audience, and they all require different techniques, just as developmental editing, copyediting, and proofreading are different ways of examining and fine-tuning your manuscript.
Think of editing as similar to photography. You can choose whether you want to focus in close on the smaller details (such as dew drops on a spiderweb), zoom out to show the foreground and background for a well-rounded shot of the subject, or use a telephoto or panoramic lens to capture the entire scene, creating a "big picture" vista. These are all effective ways to engage an audience, and they all require different techniques, just as developmental editing, copyediting, and proofreading are different ways of examining and fine-tuning your manuscript.
Developmental editingDevelopmental editing (also known as substantive or structural editing) is the big picture treatment. During a developmental edit, Karin will examine your plot, pacing, and characterisation and look at how well your book conforms to genre tropes. She'll make sure each chapter starts and ends with a hook that will keep readers turning the page, that the story and character arcs make sense, and that the resolution is satisfying and urges readers to seek out more of your work.
She will also work with you to ensure your work is thematically insteresting and makes good use of deep-editing techniques and literary devices such as flashbacks, foreshadowing, allusion, motif, allegory, backloading, metaphor, simile, and echoing. A developmental edit is a two-step process. During the second read-through, Karin will also tidy up spelling, punctuation, and grammar, leaving you with a well-rounded, clean copy to send to betas, an agent, or a publisher, or to check and publish yourself. Developmental editing takes time to perfect, and not all editors are able to "zoom out" in this way. Karin's rate for developmental and structural editing is AUD$47 per hour. |
CopyeditingCopyediting is analogous to macro photography. Karin will focus on your work in less abstract, more concrete detail.
She will go over your manuscript line by line, adhering to style, correcting any spelling, punctuation, or grammatical errors, and tightening up any flab or padding. She might make occasional comments about voice or clarity, or question your characters' actions or a plot point from time to time, but she won't suggest ideas to help you fix issues or go into great detail about literary devices, structure, characterisation, and pacing, as she would for a developmental edit. Copyediting is a single-step process that is best followed by a proofread or beta read. Karin's rate for copyediting is AUD $40 per hour. |
ProofreadingProofreading is the bare minimum you should do before you send your book or written material out into the world. It focuses on ensuring that your work is free from typographical and consistency errors, and that spelling, punctuation, and grammar are correct.
During a proofread, Karin will not edit for concision or comment on the more "zoomed out" aspects of your manuscript, such as characters, plot, pacing or literary devices. She will only focus on correcting very obvious mechanical (spelling, punctuation, grammar and typographical) errors. Karin does not recommend just getting a proofread for your work unless you have already had your work copyedited or have self-edited it extensively after sending it to a critique group or to beta readers. Karin's rate for proofreading is AUD$35 per hour. |
Karin can also design a custom editorial or complete self-publishing package for you. To inquire about a package, click here.