What should you expect from a developmental editor?
As a longtime developmental editor, I often get questions from authors about the editor-writer relationship.
How exactly do developmental editors work? How can I tell if I’ve found a good one? And will you correct my typos?
I can tell you that virtually all successful writers – from Ernest Hemingway to Kathryn Stockett – have worked with a developmental editor. Often these editors worked for the publisher and had titles like senior editor, executive editor, editor-in-chief.
These days, authors are able to hire their own independent developmental editors.
Constructive collaborators
Developmental editors offer specific suggestions about the core intentions and goals of the book, the underlying premise, the story, character development, use of dialogue and sensory description, the polish, narrative voice, pacing, style, language – the craft and literary art of the book.
What developmental editors don’t do is correct spelling and grammar. That’s the job of a copy-editor, who works much later in the publishing process.
An author can recruit a developmental editor even before starting a book, to brainstorm ideas and make a clear plan. After that, they may call upon the editor at any stage from early drafts to final. For more on this, you might be interested in an earlier post called When do you need an editor?
What agents, publishers and readers want
I’ve been a developmental editor in traditional book publishing since 1962, and have worked one-on-one with private writer clients for many years. You can read more about that in my bio. But there are many developmental editors to choose from these days. That’s good for authors trying to get a book deal with a traditional publisher. Many writers have learned the hard way that agents and acquisition editors at commercial houses don’t want a manuscript that’s not ready for prime time.
Self-publishing authors – whether they intend to stay independent or try to convert their book to a commercial house — can also benefit from professional feedback to compete with the 11,000 new titles every year vying for a reader’s attention.
For my best advice on how to evaluate and select your own private developmental editor, check out this post Choosing a freelance editor: What you need to know.
Now, here’s what I believe every writer deserves and should expect when working one-on-one with a developmental editor.
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What to expect from a good developmental editor
Clear, understandable edits
When you get back your manuscript from a developmental editor, it should be filled with tracked changes – a function of Microsoft Word.
You’ll see the edits clearly, right on the page, with the existing words still visible so you can compare your original work with the suggested changes. You’ll see deletions, shifts in words, phrases, sentences, paragraphs, sections or chapters, and notes that explain, question or add new suggested writing.
In each case, with the click of a key you can either accept or reject the edits. You always retain full control over the final work.
Specific solutions
Never settle for a vague statement from an editor like “It’s too long.” There’s no one acceptable length for a young adult, paranormal, mystery, romance, biography or memoir. It should be as long as it needs to be, with no fat or excess. The constructive way to approach length is: Do we need this or not? Is it essential to the moment, short term or down the road? If not, put a line through it.
Similarly, it’s not very useful for an editor to say, “This character needs development.” A good editor will make specific suggestions, like adding new backstory or current time elements that demonstrate change, transformation, some major progress from the crisis to the last curtain. These might include specific events, actions, turning points, for example inserting a test of loyalty around a best friend’s dishonesty or going into a character’s mixed feelings in response to the death of a parent.
Creative input
A good editor will enter the author’s universe and come up with new and original ideas wherever needed to spike the story, deepen the personalities, add an unexpected dimension to the accelerating pace of the narrative, whether it’s fiction or nonfiction.
The editor might suggest for example, changing the heroine’s profession from a paralegal to a partner in the firm, which could add to her personality and create new dimensions in her relationships at home and work.
Writing
A good developmental editor can provide suggested new language for narrative, dialogue, and visual description. This draft language should include an invitation to revise and correct according to the author’s own literary style and taste. But an able editor can take the plunge and offer whole new ideas for the client writer to consider.
Developmental editors are not ordinarily ghostwriters, but they can and should be able to put the right words together as an example of what they want the author to do.
Respect
A good developmental editor may suggest “What about this?” and offer a new idea to solve whatever problem may be in progress. If the editor, however, suggests something you find unacceptable, remember this: You’re the boss. If you disagree, good editors will bury their own egos and totally honor the intentions, style, and underlying theme of a writer client’s work.
If your editor is inflexible, overbearing, or takes a “my way or the highway” tone, it’s time to terminate.
Instruction
A good developmental editor can help an author become a better writer, by including detailed explanations to accompany changes and deletions.
Here’s an example. I worked with an author who made a habit of lacing intrusive commentary and interpretation into every paragraph of action or dialogue. I deleted these as attempts to control the reader’s experience and subjective feelings about what was happening. In each case, I explained why it wasn’t a good idea. His next book had none of this tendency, with no further input from me.
Market sense
A good developmental editor can provide a sense of the market for a given book project. Developmental editors aren’t agents, but they should have a good idea of what the market is looking for and when. For example, publishers schedule special promotions for Valentine’s Day, Mother’s and Father’s day, beach reading, back-to-school and above all Christmas gift-giving.
Developmental editors often have a good sense of what agents are thinking about commercial trends among the publishers they sell to. They will also understand how a particular demographic of readers will respond to your book. And they stay on top of what is of interest in specific foreign markets like Germany, China, Russia, or Japan, since not all countries are reading the same thing at the same time.
Developmental editors also keep up with breaking news, cultural developments and global trends. This can help them suggest how to correct any gaps or misconceptions if an author incorporates these rapidly changing elements into the manuscript.
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What about you?
If you’ve worked with a developmental editor, hopefully the experience was a good one. If so, (or if not) please share something about it here in comments, along with any advice for fellow writers. I’ll watch for any questions.
July 6th, 2012 at 6:21 pm
I recently hired an editor whose approach was to look for all kinds of problems that would flag my manuscript for automatic rejection – grammar, layout, content, and many other things. I got nervous at first when I didn’t get much feedback on the content – it’s my first novel. His response was that if he didn’t mention it, it wasn’t a problem. Considering he caught A LOT of grammatical problems and that I actually disagreed with him on his content suggestions, I think I chose the right editor for this manuscript. Had I chosen a developmental editor… who knows? I may have found myself disagreeing a lot because I have a very specific vision for this story. It’s interesting that you mention developmental editors can get involved very early in the process – I certainly see the value in using a developmental editor if you’re just not sure if your story “has it.”
July 6th, 2012 at 10:41 pm
Rob,
In my experience it’s impossible for one person to do all of what you describe. Developmental editors don’t correct grammar or layout, but are concerned with content: character development, story, narrative voice and other aspects of literary art and craft. A good developmental editor, moreover, will not change or ignore the writer’s vision for the book.
Copy editors come later to fix grammar, spelling, typos and formatting issues like spacing between words and lines.
From your description, I’d say yours was a copy editor.
Your comment underscores the importance of confirming in advance, a prospective editor’s experience and track record. I recommend a close read of my earlier post on evaluating and choosing your own developmental editor, which you can find at this link: http://www.alanrinzler.com/blog/2009/07/02/choosing-a-freelance-editor-what-you-need-to-know/
July 7th, 2012 at 12:16 am
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July 7th, 2012 at 5:54 pm
Alan, I agree, my editor is a copy editor, and again, I think he was the right choice for me for this book, so no regrets. But for future books (leap of faith there), I may want to try a developmental editor.
By the way, your articles are all very insightful, thank you for posting them!
July 8th, 2012 at 12:07 am
[...] Rinzler on The Book Deal What should you expect from a developmental editor? “Developmental editors offer specific suggestions about the core intentions and goals of the [...]
July 8th, 2012 at 10:12 am
Interesting. I graduated from a program that required students to form groups to edit each others’ works, in every class. I learned to edit for prose, content and copy. Upon graduating, I knew that I wanted to be an editor…only fully realizing then that I didn’t know what KIND of editor I wanted to be. I didn’t know that a developmental editor’s work is different from a prose editor’s work, and a prose editor from an acquisitions editor. I still have so much to learn. Thank you for introducing developmental editor to me!
July 9th, 2012 at 1:48 pm
J,
Glad to hear you’ve decided to be an editor. The program you graduated from seem to use different language than what I’m familiar with to describe the various types of editing. In my experience what is normally referred to as a developmental editor is one who works with prose and content. In this case, prose means the literary style and content means character development, story, structure, and other elements of art and craft.
So it appears that you already knew about developmental editing, but by another name. Meanwhile, copy refers strictly to copy-editing, which corrects typos, spelling, grammar, and other mistakes.
July 11th, 2012 at 10:20 am
Thanks for this article. Alan I’m glad you listed the responsibilities of a Developmental Editor. What’s the best way to find a good Developmental Editor/Copyeditor. Right now, I’m looking for a proficient copyeditor. Btw I’m sharing a bonus/leftover story from my upcoming book B.A.Y. Vol. 1. This is “The Story Of The Would’ves. A family that breaks the 2012 World Record for thinking and not achieving. http://slidesha.re/MB8V2J
July 12th, 2012 at 4:14 pm
Mansu,
You can read my best advice for finding a good developmental editor by going to this link: http://www.alanrinzler.com/blog/2009/07/02/choosing-a-freelance-editor-what-you-need-to-know/.
Copy editors can also be Googled online. A copy editor is usually the last person to check over the book for spelling, punctuation and typos. Stay tuned for a future post on copy editors, what they do, how to find a good one, and a few cautionary notes.
July 15th, 2012 at 7:03 am
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July 15th, 2012 at 9:11 am
As I said in the acknowledgments of one of my books, editors are the people who prevent us from making fools of ourselves in public. I’ve been blessed with one superb editor after another — only one bad experience in four books and a fistful of articles, scholarly and otherwise. It’s worth it to publish “traditionally” if only to have access to a professional “developmental” editor. As far as I’m concerned, good editors can take over the universe. We’d all be happier.
July 16th, 2012 at 3:13 am
Alan, this is excellent advice and I agree that all writers if they’re serious about their trade should use the services of a developmental editor. The difficulty of course is to find a good one. But I also think it makes a difference if you’re traditionally published or an indie.
Let me explain. If you’re trad pubbed, then you’re not paying for your editor, the publisher pays. If you’re indie, the relationship is more direct: you pay for the editor. Now that can be a disadvantage in my opinion, because you pay the guy and he may not be as honest as he might be otherwise because he might want to keep his job with you. Whereas the ditor paid by the publisher owes allegiance to the publishing house and maintaining its reputation as a “gatekeeper” and not to you the writer. So he’s going to tell you exactly what’s wrong with your ms and how to improve it,it’s in his interest.
For indies, it’s not so easy. The editor will be tempted to let go, to allow for mistakes and redundancies, lapses in plot and character etc. Because in the end, he’s not in this with you the way he would be if you had a contract with the publisher he works for…
July 16th, 2012 at 4:08 am
I could totally use a developmental editor. It’s discouraging to have no direction early on in a story. A question: If I hired a developmental editor (which I desperately need), would my big 6 editor be offended?
July 18th, 2012 at 10:11 am
Claude,
Most traditional publishers don’t supply developmental editing these days, unfortunately, since they expect agents to send them a manuscript that’s ready for production. There are rare exceptions but the editor-in-chief of a major traditional publisher told me recently that his staff has no time or skill to do developmental editing. Those days are gone.
Regarding independent editors who are hired by the author, their livelihoods depend on the success of their author clients, so it’s against their own interests to be anything but honest, tough and specific about what needs to be revised. As an independent consultant and developmental editor myself, I can tell you that it would be an unethical dereliction of duty for me to allow mistakes, redundancies, or lapses in plot and character.
When choosing a developmental editor I recommend that writers use the same diligence they would to hire the best possible doctor, lawyer, accountant or other helping professional. Check their credentials, their track record of successful clients with whom they’ve worked, their traditional publishing employment history, and clarity of financial terms.
July 18th, 2012 at 10:13 am
SM,
A Big-6 editor wouldn’t be offended if you hired your own developmental editor. Traditional publishers don’t want a manuscript that still needs work.
They’re grateful that you’ve taken the care to work with a professional prior to submission. It shows your seriousness about your work and your willingness to make a financial commitment to submitting the best manuscript possible.
July 19th, 2012 at 7:08 pm
[...] Alan Rinzler has a great post on What should you expect from a developmental editor? [...]
July 20th, 2012 at 7:15 pm
I guess I’m a hybrid editor. I help my clients with the development of their story and also point out grammar errors, etc., which I guess, is because I’m a writer first and an editor second. I seem to see the work from an editor and a writer’s standpoint. A literary blend of sorts. But I strongly advise any writer, new or experienced, to get an editor you trust and to let him/her help you make the book better. But remember, editors only suggest. You, the author have the final say. But choose wisely, the novel you are writing will depend on myriad choice decisions. That’s where editors can help. Use them. They are worth every penny. I may be a writer/editor, but I also have an editor who is my first reader, and she’s a real annoying nitpicker, and that’s what I want her to be, so I can “kill all my darlings” and make a better book a reality.