Editing: the different types and their role in the quality of your final manuscript.

On the previous blogpost, we looked into the role of editors and proofreaders in trade books. It was also pointed out that there is actually more to editing than just fixing spelling and grammatical errors. There are different types of editing, and each serve a purpose.

For first-time and aspiring authors who opt for self-publishing and might not have sufficient funds for it, finding the most affordable editor is probably the first option, without a doubt. Here’s a question I’d like to pose on you: how certain are you that the editor will cover all types of editing efficiently, that they are competent to cover all of them?

It is very easy to compromise on the quality of your manuscript when the controlling factor is affordability, particularly when you don’t understand the rules to be applied and the time needed for editing.

As a member of the Professional Editors’ Guild, it has been a great privilege to attend webinars hosted by John Linnegard, the chairperson, accredited text editor, proofreader and writer who has co-authored books on editing principles. Not only have I gained the knowledge from the editing course I graduated from, but the webinars have also been a great help in benchmarking my current editing knowledge and skills, closing any gaps I may have. Through this blogpost, I will be sharing about the different levels of editing, which I hope you will find insightful and will help you to make the best decision for your manuscript.

Let’s zoom into the different types of editing and understand their significance:

Structural/substantive editing

This type of editing focuses on improving the overall coverage and presentation of the manuscript. It looks at the content, the scope, length and organisation. Logical flow, clear meaning and purpose (which looks into the appropriateness of the content for the intended audience) are among the key objectives of this level of editing.

Copy-editing/line editing

This type of editing focuses on each sentence and paragraph. It seeks to achieve 4 things: correctness, consistency, accuracy and completeness. What is meant by these?

Correctness – here, the editor fixes the grammar, ensures that different punctuation marks are applied correctly, corrects spelling (including typos), and ensures correct use of prepositions, idioms and phrases.

Consistency – the editor ensures consistency of the following throughout the manuscript: abbreviations, number and date format, measurements (whether metric or imperial system), spelling (whether using US/UK spelling), citing style (APA, Harvard, etc). Here, editors use what is called a style sheet guide for that particular manuscript and a house style guide which is generally used by publishing houses for books they publish. The editor also looks into any inconsistency in logic, factual details and cross-referencing on the manuscript.

Accuracy and completeness –  this is applied to the names of people, places, titles, quotations and weblinks that may be used on the manuscript. The editor also looks out for quotations that have no source, generalisation that is unsupported, contradictions, unclear meaning, invalid statements, gaps in content, and instances where permission/copyrights may need needed.

Stylistic editing

This type of editing is what determines whether the reader would be enticed to continue reading the book or put it away. It looks at sentence construction, improves your choice of words, adjusts the length and structure of paragraphs to cater for either variety or consistency. The editor ensures that the tone, style, level of formality, language and reading levels are appropriate for your audience.

Can you see how important each type of editing is? Each of them focus on different aspects of the manuscript, and each are as significant as the other. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to give attention to every aspect of your manuscript, or to at least evaluate your manuscript for each level of editing and see if all these objectives identified have been attended to.

Blogger:

Simthandile Mhlambiso – Founder and Managing Director of Mpilo Publishing (Pty) Ltd; Member of Professional Editors ‘ Guild (PEG), Branch Secretary of PEG Committee – Western Cape.