This service is a broad assessment about what’s working and what needs work in your story. You can expect a multi-page report about what’s working and what needs work in your manuscript, detailing suggestions for improving the plot, worldbuilding, and character arcs. A manuscript critique will not include any markup or in-line comments.

More in-depth than the critique, a developmental edit provides feedback about big-picture elements of your manuscript like plot, world building, characters, and their relationships. You can expect an in-depth developmental report that encompasses the story as a whole, along with in-line comments on the manuscript. More granular editing, such as grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors, are not performed at this level of editing.

This hybrid service combines these traditionally distinct levels of editing. Copyediting is a technical service, focusing on adherence to style, correcting style and grammar mishaps, and maintaining consistency throughout. Line editing looks at the sentence level of the document, smoothing transitions, offering suggestions for restructuring sentences to match the flow of the scene, and optimizing word choice.

When your manuscript has already been through the higher levels of editing, it’s time to get a fresh set of eyes on the page. A manuscript is ready to be proofread right before it goes to the printers, which corrects for spelling, style, grammar, and punctuation errors that may have slipped through previous levels of editing. A proofread is a character level edit, requiring extreme attention to detail at the granular level. Proofreading does not include smoothing of prose, transitions, or anything at the sentence level or above.

While the other listed services occur after the manuscript is written, coaching is beneficial to writers who enjoy accountability during the writing process. Whether you need a brainstorming buddy to bust through writer’s block, a cheerleader to help with motivation, a craft partner to help you figure out what works for your writing process, and a teammate always on board to help you strategize your next steps, you’ll find it in coaching. This can be the difference between a great idea bouncing around in your head and a finished novel.