"Here at WriteByNight we aim to please. An expression, by the way, that always reminds me of those framed bathroom tchotchkes, the ones that read, 'We aim to please. You aim too, please.' Translation: Don’t pee on the seat! Which makes me want to pee on
the seat. Not that this always requires intent, because sometimes, well . . .
"And oh, look! I’ve already gone off the rails. Clearly I need an editor.
"But what kind? In our recent post on manuscript preparation, WriteByNighter Sid K. made the following request: 'I hope you will follow up on this post by writing about all those different types of editing, what each one is used for, and how to know which one(s) we
need.'
"It’s a question we’re asked often, so today I want to dig into it a little. Or a lot. Depends on how well I can keep my logorrhea in check. Again, need an editor.
"As Sid mentions, there are many types of editing. But not all of them have strict definitions, and there’s a whole lot of annoying overlap between them. Writers have a lot of editorial terms thrown at them — top or top-down, big picture,
line, front, stylistic, substantive — but some of these are redundant, and a few are even supremely unhelpful.
"So how is a writer supposed to know what type of editing he or she needs? Confusion about
these terms can lead to choosing the wrong kind of editor, and choosing the wrong kind of editor can lead to paying money for the kind of work your writing doesn’t even need.
"Keeping it simple helps. So we’ve narrowed it
down to five types of editing, and we’ll take a chronological approach to make it even easier."
