You’ve written your nonfiction book. Now what? Well, now the work has truly just begun. Finishing a nonfiction book is a major accomplishment. It has taken weeks, months, and maybe even years to get to this point. And you should be proud. Now you will be tasked with phase two of your nonfiction book journey, editing. Editing allows you to present the very best version of your book to your audience.
Editing can seem like a daunting and downright overwhelming process. It doesn’t need to be that way. In the article, we will outline the essential types of editing for nonfiction books. There are two phases of the editing process: personal and professional.
First, let’s dive into the self-phase. The self-phase is broken down into revision and editing.
Revision:
You will re-examine everything you have written making adjustments, additions, and alterations along the way. You should take into account the below suggestions:
- Eliminate clunky language
- Replace repetitive words and phrases with new ones
- Engage with active vs passive voice
- Format for reader’s understanding and not your own
- Clarity and flow of sentence and story structure
In this phase, you may decide to add sections or remove them entirely. You may move headings or subheadings to a different part of the book. You want to use all the available tools that you have to deliver the very best story
Self-Editing:
In this phase, you will focus on grammar, punctuation, and capitalization. This is the part of editing that most people connect with the term editing.
Now that you’ve completed the personal editing phase, it’s time for you to move on to the professional editing phase. Professional editing is extremely important for nonfiction books. Professional book editing allows you to look your best, seem your best, and be your best to your readers. Professional editing has 4 parts.
Some editors specialize in one specific type of editing while other editors can help you with more than one type. Be sure to do your research and background on each editor prior to hiring them for their services. The four types of editing are:
- Developmental
- Line
- Copy
- Proofreading
Each type of editing is listed in detail below.
Edit #1: Developmental Editing
Developmental editing is the first step in the editing process for nonfiction books. In short, developmental editing takes the book from where it currently stands to where it needs to go for the end result. It includes suggestions and helps step by step along each phase of the book.
Developmental editing can take place in a multitude of ways. It can be done in either informal or formal feedback sessions. Informal developmental editing can be done by emails or phone calls. Formal developmental editing can be done by running editorial commentary in the draft manuscript or an editorial memo. A combination of both informal and formal developmental editing is usually utilized.
Developmental editing always has the goal of guiding the author with actionable suggestions, ideas, lessons, and overall feedback to improve the manuscript. With nonfiction books specifically, developmental editing focuses on logic, structure, organization, and effectiveness. Developmental editing feedback and suggestions are centered on creating an engaging reading experience that is directed toward the intended audience.
Developmental editing is not generally focused on making actual changes to the manuscript. Instead, it’s helping the author build their craft and coaching and guiding authors so they can grow and improve their work and well as overall as a writer.
Edit #2 Line Editing
Line editing is the second step in the editing process for nonfiction books. In the simplest of terms line editing is a complete and full analysis of each and every sentence of your book. A line editor will literally go line by line from beginning to end of your book. A line editor goes far beyond the scope of grammar, punctuation, and spelling. These types of editing are not addressed or handled during the line editing process.
Line editing strengthens your book by bringing together the very building blocks of your project. It focuses on sentence structure and construction, paragraph form, pages, and scenes.
A quality line editor will use the following questions to edit each sentence of your book.
- Does this sentence aid the reader in their understanding of the book?
- Does this sentence strengthen or slow the pace of the paragraph it’s in?
- Does this sentence add new information or is it repetitive?
- Is this sentence appropriate for this character?
- Is there a way to shorten this scene to have the action happen faster?
- Is it possible to rewrite this sentence to put the action in motion instead of simply explaining the action?
Line editing nourishes your book’s voice, clarity, and flow. Not only will each sentence be examined individually but, but the paragraphs themselves will also be examined. Each sentence and paragraph should work effortlessly together to engage the reader and build the actual story.
Fluff, repetitiveness, and anything confusing must be removed during the line editing process. Line editing focuses on the power, choice, and meaning of the book’s words, sentences, and paragraphs. If they do not serve a purpose, they are removed or adjusted.
Edit #3 Copy Editing
Copy editing is the third step in the editing process for nonfiction books. Many times this step is confused with proofreading. Copy editing requires a high level of detail and a master of words. A high-quality copy editor will check for the following:
- Technical consistency: Font usage, capitalization, hyphenations, numerals, style of writing (IE British vs American English)
- Legal liabilities
- Errors in grammar, spelling, syntax, and punctuation
- Factually incorrect statements: This is especially crucial for nonfiction writing as historical data needs to be accurate
- Story inconsistencies:
- Description
- Plot
- Setting
- Character description
Copyediting should only ever be started once both developmental and line editing have been completed. Otherwise, you will be paying a professional to copy-edit a book that may still have entire sections rearranged, added, or deleted.
Edit #4 Proofreading
Proofreading is the fourth and final step in the editing process for nonfiction books. As we stated earlier this step in the editing process is commonly confused with copy editing. Think of proofreading as your quality assurance. Proofreaders compare the original edited copy to the proof. Thus ensuring no missing pages and omissions.
While proofreaders may include basic or light editing, they are not copy-editors. If you try to have your book proofread prior to copy editing taking place, be prepared to have the book sent back. Proofreaders are unable to provide high-quality results unless they are the final step in the editing process.
How Long Does Editing Take:
The editing process can vary greatly depending on how thorough your self-revision and self-editing phase went. Below are general guidelines on how long each phase in the editing process should take with a professional editor.
Developmental Edits: 6 Months. While this may seem like a long time. The developmental editing process is very in-depth and should not be rushed.
Line Edits: 4-7 Weeks. This may vary based on the length of the book or the severity of errors.
Copy Edits: 4-7 Weeks. This may vary based on the length of the book or the severity of errors.
Proofreading: 2-3 Weeks. This is the fastest step in the editing process but can still vary.