An idiot’s guide to editing:

4 years of learning the hard way

​Are you an expert on editing?  Could you talk for at least ten minutes on the differences between a developmental edit, a line edit, a copy edit and a proof read?  Are you the kind of person who reads other people’s blogs and gets pedantic about their technical accuracy? Then please don’t read on, this blog post isn’t for you.  This post is for idiots – like I was four years ago when I started writing.
 
 
Why I started writing
 
In 2021 I was working in a job where I worked from home, and had some work to do, but it wasn’t enough to fill my day.  I had of course tried to use my initiative to think outside the box and come up with projects I could work on to fill my time – I did this on a few occasions, but after being told something along the lines of that’s a problem that doesn’t sit within our department to solve, I gave up trying to use my initiative, and hence, I was bored.
 
In the autumn of that year, I went on holiday and spent a week reading books – something I struggle to find time for when not away from the many competing priorities of modern life.  My time spent reading made me recall a story that had been rattling around my head for years, and I had an epiphany – I could write stories while bored at work!  I was glued to my desk in case anyone Skype called me, but that wouldn’t stop me from writing.  And so when I returned to work, the writing of draft one of The Queen of Vorn began.
 
 
The writing begins
 
In October 2021, I started writing.  I didn’t really have a plan beyond an outline for a story that was in my head, I just let the words flow.
 
By Christmas 2021, draft one was done.  Of course I was an idiot back then, so I had delusions that it only needed a few tweaks to be polished.
 
I gave it a quick proof read, and threw it at a few friends and family members to give it a read-through.  Meanwhile, I cracked on with the sequels.
 
Soon I had three books drafted and the friends and family feedback for book one came in.  They all said they enjoyed it.  They maybe suggested minor developmental points, but nothing meaty.  Nothing that someone who writes themselves, or who reads shed-loads of fantasy with a critical eye, or who has even an ounce of knowledge about plot, structure, characterisation or themes might flag up.
 
I thought my books were great, and was eager to see them published.  I hoped to get a traditional publishing deal (I’ve since given up on that aspiration), and so I planned to query literary agents. I’d had some very basic feedback from some unqualified people and was deluded into thinking that was sufficient. They liked it, why shouldn’t a literary agent?
 
Err…
 
So I started querying.  But at the back of my mind, doubt began to niggle.  I kept thinking about the disjointed structure of my first novel and wondered if it really was as good as my readers had told me. So I got a manuscript review from a professional editor.  And it didn’t make for great reading.
 
My book stank.
 
I’d written a book.  It hadn’t been edited, not really.  Not by me, nor by a professional editor.  I’d done something that might resemble a combination of a basic line/copy edit combined with a proofread, but beyond that, it was basically a bunch of words vomited into a laptop. The crucial thing I’d neglected to do was a proper developmental edit.  In my experience, most books, especially books by new authors, need a decent amount of sleeves-rolled-up, axe-wielding, slash-and-burn editing to even start to get them on the right track.  Followed by a good amount of careful cultivation to rebuild them into something that looks less like a mangled pile of disjointed weeds, and more like a lovingly tended garden.
 
But I was an idiot back then, and I thought I knew what I was doing.
 
By the summer of 2022 I’d come to the conclusion that my first novel needed so much work that I couldn’t face it just then, so I cracked on with the sequel trilogy.
 
After writing three novels I was a much better author so I think the first draft of my next trilogy came out in a much better shape than my earlier trilogy.  They were certainly better books, but I was still a very inexperienced writer who was yet to fully appreciate what constitutes sufficient editing. Hence, I drafted them, got more unqualified people to read them, made some basic tweaks before sending them off to an editor for a line/copy edit. 
 
Editing done, now what?
 
Simples, I just address all the comments left by my editor, ask my mum to proof read it then publish, right?
 
Wrong!!!
 
I’d missed out a very important edit here – the developmental edit!
 
I drafted, tweaked a bit, then started polishing my book.
 
Was my book perfect?
 
No.  It will never be perfect no matter how much work I do on it.
 
Ok, so was my book something close to perfect?
 
No!!!  I hadn’t done a decent developmental edit.
 
 
What is a developmental edit?
 
This should be the first round of editing you do. It’s where you have a “big picture” look at your manuscript and try to identify any significant structural changes that you need to make. You will consider things like plot, character development, pacing and overall structure.  You should also try to identify any weaknesses like plot holes or character inconsistencies, as well as considering if you have redundant bits that don’t need to be there, parts that are too waffly or perhaps just generally irrelevant.
 
I’ve recently done yet another developmental edit on The Queen of Vorn.  It now sits at version 5.1 after being chopped and changed so many times there’s virtually nothing left of the original manuscript. 
 
When I write books, I plan them out in an Excel spreadsheet.  I write a few lines to describe what each chapter will look like and then as I write them, I tweak my descriptions in accordance with how they actually turn out.  I also add in details of whose point of view the chapter is written in, and what is the relevant date of the chapter.
 
Having written seven books over the last four years, I’ve developed this method so I end up with a neat spreadsheet plot tracker for all of my novels.  It also provides a great template when I’m doing a developmental edit.
 
When I went from version 4 to 5 of The Queen of Vorn, I did the high-level developmental edit on my plot tracking spreadsheet.  I added an “editing plan” column and a “other notes” column which expanded on any points I’d put in my “editing plan” column.  I colour coded these columns too, so I could see at a glance the extent of the work I needed to do.
 
Red = delete chapter
Orange = substantial changes
Yellow = minor changes
Green = no significant changes
 
Here’s a screenshot of my spreadsheet:

I’m not an editor.  I’m a sciences graduate who stopped studying English at sixteen years old.  I’m no expert on how a pro does a developmental edit.  And yes, you can pay people to give your manuscript the once over, if you like.
 
Personally, I think it’s an author’s job to conduct a developmental edit – I don’t like the idea of someone else making structural changes to my novel, but that’s not to say I don’t employ professional help.  For a number of my novels, I’ve paid an editor to conduct a manuscript review.  This is basically an in-depth book report.  It will flag any of the key issues you might want to address in a developmental edit of your own. If you want to pay for this, expect to pay in the region of £300 for a 100,000 word novel.
 
For The Queen of Vorn, I employed an editor called Rachel to do the first manuscript review, then I made loads of changes.  But it was in such a bad place to start with, that I ended up getting another manuscript review when it was at version 3.  Version 4 followed.  The changes I made between versions 4 and 5 were as a result of further feedback I got from beta readers.  But these were good beta readers.  These weren’t the family and friends that had read my early books, these were strangers I’d met online (sounds a bit creepy, but we only every chat books if you’re wondering).  They were people in the writing community, most of whom are writers themselves and they are far better and giving you objective feedback than casual readers.
 
Good beta readers can be used instead of professionals, but I suggest you get several of them to read your work and when you get their feedback, look for common themes.  I’ve had some rather critical feedback from some beta readers which might have made me bin my work, if it wasn’t for the more encouraging constructive criticism I had from the majority of the others.
 
 
Back to The General’s Son…
 
The General’s Son was a hell of a lot better than The Queen of Vorn in almost every way.  As reminder, this was book one of my second trilogy and hence, was written later when I’d had more practice at writing.  But it was never properly developmentally edited.  I never had a professional manuscript review nor did I ask any decent beta readers to read it.  Any tweaks I made were largely based on my own opinion.
 
You can very easily become blind to your own work.  You can convince yourself that certain bits of your story simply have to be there.  You tell yourself that certain chapters provide important character development that simply couldn’t be achieved in other parts of the book, even though your gut tells you a particular section is a bit boring.
 
That’s what I did with The General’s Son.  Hence it ended up being published without being as good as it could have been. 
 
That being said, it did ok.  My star average on Amazon sits at 4.5 from a total of 39 reviews – which is pretty decent.  But a year after publishing, despite quite a lot of effort to market my book, my sales numbers were dwindling and it seemed few people read on to book 2.  I had a suspicion that it’s beginning wasn’t quite strong enough and maybe had a few other flaws as well.  So I decided this novel needed a pro manuscript review, too.
 
Granted, the results of this review were nowhere near as scathing as the review I’d had for my first draft of The Queen of Vorn, but it did confirm my suspicions. I'd released it in March 2023.  After reading the manuscript review, I unpublished it in February 2024, along with its two sequels. These had been released at six week intervals after the first book.
 
 
​Now what?
 
Time for a Condor moment.
 
I wanted to tweak The General’s Son and give it a fresh start.
 
But I also wanted to release my first trilogy into the world.
 
I therefore bit the bullet and spent the next year and a half working on my first trilogy to try to make it publishing ready. I released version 4 of The Queen of Vorn in May this year and unpublished it in June (long story – I explain why I did this later). And after yet another round of developmental edits, I have just sent off version 5.1 off for a line/copy edit.
 
  
What the hell is a line/copy edit?
 
A line edit and a copy edit are slightly different.  A copy edit deals with consistency, spelling, grammar and punctuation, while a line edit will improve language and wording and clarity. They are often done at the same time and I personally recommend that anyone who doesn’t have a keen eye for detail combined with a very in-depth knowledge of literature and the English language pays someone to do this for them.
 
Here’s a screen shot of the edited version of the original opening of The General’s Son (which has now been completely axed in a later developmental edit).
 

There’s quite a lot of overlap between the two types of editing, and because I’m an idiot, not an editor, I wouldn’t like to say exactly where the copy edit ends and the line edit starts.  What I can say is that if you’re going to pay for one type (i.e. just a line edit), you should pay for the other (a copy edit) too, as this combination of edits will improve your writing by leaps and bounds.
 
I’m hoping my screenshot paints a thousand words, as it shows all the kinds of changes that a good editor will make, as well as leaving lots of comments about things that you might want to consider tweaking.
 
This edit was done by a lady called Rachel Rowlands, a different editor called Kelly Urgan has worked on some of my other books.  Both of them are professionals who work to similar high standards.  If you want to get an idea how much this kind of editing costs, expect to pay somewhere in the region of £2000 for a 100,000 word manuscript.  You can pay less, but there’s a good chance you won’t get as good an edit (more on that later).
 
 
What next?
 
The Queen of Vorn will be back from Kelly in a few weeks’ time, after that, I’ll address all her comments and then give it a proofread.
 
 
What does a proofread involve?
 
The answer is probably obvious to most, but as this is an idiot’s guide to editing, I’ll explain.
 
A proofread is the final check of your manuscript to find any errors in spelling, grammar, punctuation, and formatting before it is published. It focuses on small but important mistakes that could distract readers, ensuring the text is clear, accurate, and professional. 
 
Sound’s simple enough, right?  If you have a good eye for detail, you may well be able to do this yourself.  Personally, my eye for detail sucks, as the many people who pull up my work for typos will tell you.  In the past, I’ve had my mum proofread my work as she has an English degree and is pretty good at that kind of thing.  But we don’t talk much these days, so that avenue is out of the window. 
 
I have recently subscribed to Pro Writing Aid, which is great for drawing your attention to any errors like this.  It’s a bit like Word’s spelling and grammar check on speed. This software will cost you less than paying someone to do this, but clearly it takes more effort from yourself.
 
Finally, I find a great way to pick up any errors you might have missed is to read the whole thing out loud.  I made an audiobook for The Queen of Vorn – the process of doing this allowed me to find a host of errors and typos that had previously lain hidden…
 
I made my audiobook after I published, so these typos went to press when I published.

How I ended up publishing a flawed copy of my book
 
I mentioned earlier that in May this year, I published The Queen of Vorn.  A month later, I unpublished it.  My last blog post explains why I did this – it was primarily as a result of it being review-bombed.  But this little debacle was perhaps a blessing in disguise.  I unpublished because my books were trashed online for something that had nothing to do with my writing.  However, amongst all the hate that was thrown my way, there were some nuggets of truth.  People flagged how my book was riddled with typos, had formatting errors, and that the plot had issues.
 
So how did I end up publishing it with so many flaws?
 
Quite simply, I didn’t get the editing right.
 
Despite the book being published after three rounds of developmental editing, it still wasn’t polished.
 
Despite me paying two different editors to work on the line/copy edit of this book, flaws still remained.
 
Despite me giving it a final proofread, I missed lots of errors.
 
Basically, it turns out that after almost four years of writing, I’m still an idiot.
 
Or I was – hopefully, I’ve now turned a corner.
 
It was published with sub-standard editing because I rushed it out of the door.  I’d had a publishing date planned for the best part of a year, and I had over forty pre-orders. I was determined that I would release it on time.
 
In the time that followed Rachel’s work on The General’s Son and its trilogies, I built a relationship with a different editor, someone who had a lot of knowledge and promised the world for half the price of Rachel, but he didn’t deliver.
 
I sent him my manuscript ready for a line/copy edit late in October 2024, and was told it would be done in a month.  The end of November came and went, and nothing.
 
Lots of excuses followed, I was promised it in January.  January came, no finished manuscript, however I did get the first few chapters back.  These were drip-fed at a rate of a few a month until in March, I was starting to get rather worried that my book wouldn’t be done anywhere near my deadline.  So I employed another editor.  Another cheap editor.  He edited the remaining chapters but he didn’t do a very thorough job. It was more like just a copy edit without the line editing bit.  And he missed stuff.
 
While my second editor under-edited, my first editor had over-edited.  He went beyond what you’d expect of a line/copy edit and re-wrote whole sentences and in some cases, paragraphs.  But he also used some kind of software that screwed up the formatting and much of what he handed over was riddled with typos.
 
By the time my publishing date arrived, I had a manuscript that had been edited, but not well.  And because I was determined to hit my publishing deadline, I never gave it a decent final proofread.  I didn’t have Pro Writing Aid then and no one else cast their eyes over the finished manuscript.
 
That’s why it had typos and formatting issues.  But what about the plot problems?
 
They were due to a failure to conduct a proper developmental edit.
 
But it was on version 4, how could it need more developmental editing?
 
Good question – the simple answer is that the developmental edits to date had been so severe, that the book had ended up a little like a patchwork quilt that hadn’t been ironed or trimmed properly.
 
Sure, patchwork quilts can be beautiful if done well.  But if done sloppily, they can be very rough around the edges.
 
My book needed finessing – I needed beta readers.
 
I’d missed these people out.  I'd had a second manuscript review, addressed the points that were raised, then thought it was good to go.
 
I was wrong.
 
Some of the comments that were made during my review-bombing experience flagged some of the issues.  But after it was unpublished, I recruited a group of decent beta readers who gave me invaluable feedback.  Hence, version 5 followed.  Version 5.1 is a refined version which I have sent to my editor, Kelly (Kelly was recommended by Rachel, when I went back to her with my tail between my legs – she was too busy to work on my books when I got in touch).
 
 
Now what?
 
All my developmental editing is done.  Wehoo! But my books still need work.  Here’s the rundown:
 
The Homecoming Trilogy (soon to be renamed, along with the other books in this trilogy)
 

1. The Queen of Vorn – Line/copy edit underway.
2. The Prince of Vorn – Line/copy edit completed, review underway, awaiting final proofreading.
3. The King of Vorn – Lind/copy edit completed, awaiting review and proofreading.

 
The Offspring Trilogy
 

1. The General’s Son – awaiting line/copy edit and proofreading.
2. The Queen’s Daughter – in a good state, just needs tweaks.
3. The Prince’s Nephew – in a good state, just needs tweaks.

 
 
So, right now, I should be working on reviewing all the comments Kelly has left following her line/copy edit of The Prince of Vorn.  But I’m writing this blog instead.  I’ve not written a blog post in a while, and I had the urge to write rather than tweak.
 
After my first three books are polished I’ll get their covers sorted, finalise their new titles, and set a publishing date.  I plan to publish all six of my books next year, on dates TBC.  This time, I’m not going to rush.  This time, I’ll only set deadlines I know I can meet.  This time, my books will be published when they’re as good as they can be, and not before.